Grand Opening of Calderstones Wellbeing Hub
On Thursday 28th September we officially opened our Wellbeing Hub, a space for student health and wellness right in the heart of our school!
Welcoming staff, students, Governors and key partners into the hub for an abundance of NOsecco, pink lemonade and cupcakes - the ribbon was cut by Jake Mills of Chasing the Stigma who has been a key part of the project, including training staff and pupils as Wellness Ambassadors. Jake has done an enormous amount of work with many of our students, staff, student and Mental Health Ambassadors, and working with champions on 1:1 level.
Before cutting the ribbon, Jake said:
I’ve been working with Sian and the team for a long time now, and the work that we’ve seen and the enthusiasm that we saw from the children, talking about mental health, talking about mental wellbeing - the positives as well as the negative side of things - just blew us away.
This has taken a lot of time and a lot of work and it’s amazing to see it in action.
I know its already going; I know its already open and doing amazing work; but I’m excited to see what is going to be. It’s an honour to be here and I’m excited – not just about opening it today, but about what we continue to do together.
Developed in partnership with the school and governing body, the Wellbeing Hub provision has been in place for over a year, and recently underwent refurbishment to create a fresh, accessible and welcoming multi-purpose space.
In his speech, Headteacher Mr Ratcliffe explains:
The hub […] was the brainchild of a small group of people who during the school closure period and the bubble period, were concerned about what we might face in the aftermath of covid. We were right with that intuition. And now what is becoming more interesting is that it’s hard to imagine this school without the hub. We have to remind the children ‘there was a world before the wellbeing hub’, there are other places that can give them support!
It has been a magnificent addition to the school, the people who work within the hub have become absolute gold dust to the school, the service that it provides the children who are facing an ever-complex world of ever-increasing challenges has been magnificent, and we’ve been very lucky to find the right people to run it.
Thanks to the governors for supporting the genesis of that idea and helping us in getting it off the ground. Schools like ours do not have a great deal of money, but there was an attempt to make it integral to our plans.
School Governor and advocate Joe Rowe of Everton in the Community added:
The Wellbeing Hub has become a fantastic initiative driven by the safeguarding team in school to offer students the support they need.
And it doesn’t end there! Mr Ratcliff has big plans for the rest of the building!
What we had in mind was an area in the school – of what is such an enormous organisation – that would bring together all those services that would be otherwise quite disparate. The next step for us in upstairs, with the development of a SEND hub and a library as well. So hopefully in a year or two we’ll be back here, opening the ribbon up the stairs.
Want to hear more? Keep an eye on our website and social media channels to see all our fantastic work, upcoming projects and how you can get involved!
For a sneak peak of the event, check out the reel on our official instagram account below:
