What is M Day?

A day in the woods to promote positive mental health and wellbeing for children and staff.

Meditation, mindfulness, movement, music, making and marshmallows – all the Ms that can help to improve our mental health and wellbeing in the peaceful setting of the Rickling woods.

We kick off the day with a whole school assembly, highlighting the importance of our mental health and wellbeing and what we can do to make ourselves as healthy as possible. We talk about the links between physical and mental health. We talk about how being in nature can help our wellbeing.

Here are some of the activities we do (most of them are in the woods):

• Meditation – breathing techniques, stilling the mind, the importance of peace and quiet and nature in our busy world
• Forest Bathing – learning how being in nature can help to improve our mental health and wellbeing, tree hugging,
• Mindfulness – Mind Yeti, mindfulness walks, mindfulness colouring and drawing in nature
• Music – making music in the woods using natural materials, singing, chanting, singing Christmas carols
• Movement – yoga, circuits , boot camp, army style drills, mindful walking, dance
• Making –art using natural materials, bark rubbing, feelings / expressive art, tree faces, looking after our allotment, planting and growing, making a fire, building dens, wreath making
• Marshmallows! We all get a chance to sit around our fire at the allotment and toast marshmallows

We are always looking for helpers and volunteers to help us on M Day so please contact the school office if you would like to help out in any way. We would welcome some new and interesting ideas and activities to support mental health and well being. We also have a mental health and wellbeing parent steering group who meet every term. Watch out for Parentmails about the next meeting.