Online Yoga Sessions
Mental Health and Wellbeing support for Schools
Mental Health & Wellbeing
2022-2023
Early intervention groups
Individual, paired and group sessions available for KS3, KS4 and 6th Form. These can be stand alone sessions or blocks of 4 (30mins – 1 hour), giving students the skills to manage their mental health and develop resilience.
Topics: Friendships, self esteem, stress, anxiety, low mood, boundaries, self care, healthy/unhealthy habits, procrastination, LGBTQ+.
Talks/workshops
The following are topics for assemblies, talks and workshops. We are flexible and can adapt material to suit the needs of your students and lesson times.
Mental Health & Wellbeing
| Supporting your peers | KS4, 6th Form |
| Understanding anger and other strong feelings | KS3, KS4 |
| Managing stress and anxiety | KS3, KS4, 6th Form |
| A mentally healthy approach to exams | KS4, 6th Form |
| Pressure: Assertiveness & aggression | KS3 |
| Your teenage brain | KS3, KS4 |
| When banter becomes bullying | KS3 |
| Introduction to mindfulness | KS3, KS4, 6th Form |
| Introduction to yoga | KS3, KS4, 6th Form |
| Yoga & mindfulness for stress | KS3, KS4, 6th Form |
| An introduction to philosophy and meditation | KS4, 6th Form |
| Understanding grief and death | KS4, 6th Form |
| Pleasure traps | KS4, 6th Form |
Relationships & Sex Education
| Communicating Consent | KS3, KS4, 6th Form |
| Healthy & unhealthy relationships | KS3, KS4, 6th Form |
| STIs | KS4 |
| Menstrual Wellbeing | KS3, KS4 |
| Sex online and media messages | KS4, 6th Form |
| Contraception | KS4, 6th Form |
| Self esteem and body image | KS3, KS4 |
Staff CPD
| Youth Mental Health First Aid 2 day course | Abingdon School |
| Youth Mental Health First Aid 1 day course | On site |
| Youth Mental Health First Aid half day course | On site |
| Adult Mental Health First Aid 1 day course | Abingdon School |
| Staff wellbeing CPD | On site |
| Social-emotional learning in the classroom | On site |
| PSHCE/RSHE support – curriculum, statutory guidance, engagement, resources | On site |
| Safeguarding – Understanding harmful sexual behaviours | On site |
| Safeguarding – Understanding online sexual abuse and INCEL culture | On site |
Parent/family webinars
| Talking to our teens about drugs and substances |
| Supporting our children’s mental health |
| Supporting our LGBTQ+ children and young people |
| Digital health & wellbeing |
| Emotional health for you and your family |
OX14 Events
I Can & I Am
James Shone and his team are bringing their bus back to Abingdon town in November. They offer talks and workshops for students struggling with self esteem and self belief.
To book the bus visit for your school, please email Natalie at natalie.hunt@abingdon.org.uk or contact the team directly at rebecca@icanandiam.com
LGBTQ+ Inclusion Group
We have now established a working group for OX14, which will develop LGBTQ+ inclusion across the 6 schools, including policy, curriculum, student engagement and staff training.
Self Harm Awareness Training
OX14 is able to fund training with Satveer Nijar, a highly rated trainer who delivers workshops for students, training for staff and talks for parents on mental health and understanding self harm. For more information on how to book this training, please email Natalie.
Safeguarding
Natalie will be joining Abingdon School’s safeguarding team as a DDSL from September and will be offering support to the safeguarding teams across the learning partnership.
Our team
Natalie Hunt is the Mental Health & Wellbeing Coordinator for Abingdon School. Having previously taught Drama for 10 years, she developed a strong interest in young people’s mental health and retrained in Youth Mental Health First Aid (England) and Relationships & Sex Education (with Acet UK). She now supports schools in implementing a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing through staff training, parent talks and working with students on a wide range of issues. Most recently she has helped students in years 11-13 to manage their anxiety over exams and strongly believes in the importance of early intervention and prevention of mental ill health. Natalie is a DDSL and supports safeguarding teams in the schools she works in.
Henry Barnes is a teacher of Philosophy and the head of yoga at Abingdon School, where he has worked for nine years. Having had a number of mental health battles himself over the years, and having a background in schools from a young age (with his own father having been his headmaster!), Henry is now well placed to support staff and students alike, and is a passionate advocate of self-development and personal betterment. While some argue that an approach to this important area is just reflective of the ‘snowflake’ generations, Henry disagrees profoundly, arguing that building mental health strategies and techniques into our everyday lives will only make us stronger, as well as more resilient, complete and content, people.
If you are looking for other specific topics, training or resources, just get in touch by emailing Natalie Hunt (Mental Health & Wellbeing Coordinator) at natalie.hunt@abingdon.org.uk
