2nd July 2019 — The Diana Award’s free Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme which is available to schools across the UK, sees trainers working with students and other young people to change the attitude surrounding bullying. The programme has a strong peer-to-peer focus, with trainers giving young people the skills and confidence to become Anti-Bullying Ambassadors to tackle bullying in their schools long after the training has finished. The Diana Award’s anti-bullying work is recognised as world-class thanks to this sustainable approach.

The training looked at bullying in different situations including face-to-face and online. At the end of the day, pupils made an action plan of how to approach bullying issues that may arise in their schools and committed to their roles as Anti-Bullying Ambassadors.

Commenting on the training Sophie Ireland, Head of Upper School, said, “The children thoroughly enjoyed their training and returned to school brimming with ideas of how to help their peers deal with different scenarios, both at school and online. They are excited to implement some new ideas in September.”

1st July 2019 — Provided by Optimus Education, the Wellbeing Award for Schools recognises the work that we do in supporting the wellbeing of the school community and in promoting the understanding about mental health issues to reduce the stigma surrounding them in wider society. The award, developed in partnership with the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), focuses on ensuring that effective practices and provisions are in place to support and promote emotional wellbeing and mental health. The aim is to change the long-term culture of schools, embedding an ethos where mental health is regarded as the responsibility of all. The report noted that the commitment to children and young people helps them to thrive; that staff, parents and pupils’ are open to discussing mental health; and that every child is treated as an individual.

Headteacher, Claire Holloway, said: “Mental health and wellbeing is so important in our ever-changing world. By putting wellbeing at the heart of our school, we are beginning to reduce the stigma attached to talking about mental heath within our school community. Achieving this award demonstrates clearly the high level of support available for our children and their families.”

In gaining the award, St Olave’s Prep School is demonstrating the commitment to:

• Promoting mental health as part of school life
  

• Improving the emotional wellbeing of their staff and pupils
  

• Ensuring mental health problems are identified early and appropriate support provided
  

• Offering provision and interventions that matches the needs of its pupils and staff
  
• Engaging the whole-school community in the importance of mental health awareness
  

• Capturing the views of parents, pupils and teachers on mental health issues
  

The final report identified the following factors as strengths:

• The school culture really values mental health and wellbeing and promotes this for all members of the school community. All stakeholders identified that the headteacher has been central to driving this and promoting its importance.
  
• There are strong relationships, so that people know that they matter. There is a strong sense of being part of a team and belonging to the school evident among stakeholders.
  
• Leaders have been proactive in promoting work-life balance for staff by actively listening and making appropriate changes. Staff really value these.

• The school allotment provision is enhancing the wellbeing of all pupils and staff and forming valuable links with parents and the wider community. The school’s commitment to developing a teachers role to include supporting colleagues in its use will enable maximising its potential benefits.
  

• The school have developed their own programme of teaching about Learning Muscles using cuddly toys which has really engaged the children and given them the language to discuss their approaches to effective learning.
  

• The school provides a highly effective transition for their Year 6 pupils to prepare them for secondary school and outside the highly protective environment St. Olaves provides through a programme of training including Junior Citizens, work with TfL, first aid and drugs and alcohol awareness training.
  

The impacts of these factors were:

• The new school website provides high quality information to parents. It promotes the high status and importance to the school of MHW by its position on the front page. The school Twitter feed keeps information current and actively engages parents.
  
• Staff have felt very involved in the process and been encouraged to input their own ideas and needs into the bigger picture. This has encouraged significant discretionary effort.
  
• The school had a highly successful and enjoyable Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health week which really raised the status and profile of EWMH.
  

• The school has a highly visible Mental Health and Wellbeing board just inside the main door and produce a dedicated monthly newsletter to parents offering advice, tips and links.
  
• The school has become more outward looking both to its local community and in building school partnerships.
  
• There has been a focus on outside training and speakers for staff, parents and pupils which all groups have really enjoyed
  

• Everybody at the school is genuinely excited about future developments and opportunities.
  

• The school are currently developing an exciting allotment based project which has the potential to transform the lives of their pupils and the offer the school can provide to become a truly unique selling point.
  

The School is already formulating their next steps in further enhancing their provision and improving on their current positive outcomes. The Award is reviewed in 2022 and the School is looking to continue the process of development through to this date.

28th November 2017 — The campaign is focussed on the rights of refugee children - especially their right to protection and the right to be with their families.  The children were empowered to write down their views and the Rights Respecting Ambassadors passed Clive Efford more than 200 luggage labels, based on Paddington's own 'Please look after this bear' label.  He was very impressed with the empathy of our pupils towards unaccompanied children and was astounded by the amount of Paddington labels we had produced. Mr Efford has taken all of the labels with him to Parliament to pass on to Amber Rudd, Home Secretary, on the children's behalf.  Taking part in this campaign is part of St Olave's Prep School working towards achieving the UNICEF Rights Respecting School award.