Wellbeing is about feeling good and functioning well.
Good wellbeing is fundamental to our overall health, it affects how well we can overcome difficulties and achieve what we want to in life. It’s strongly linked to happiness.
Wellbeing affects students’ engagement with learning, their social and emotional behaviour and their overall satisfaction with life at school.
There are ways to improve wellbeing. The best news is student wellbeing can be enhanced when evidence-informed practices (like the Sparklers activities) are used by schools, in partnership with families, whānau and the community.
Five Ways to Wellbeing
Sparklers activities are based on Five Ways to Wellbeing – simple actions which, research shows, will improve the way you’re feeling if you practice them often. Five Ways to Wellbeing are:
Connect, me whakawhanaunga
With your friends, whānau and the people around you.
Be active, me kori tonu:
Move your body, get outside, do physical activity you enjoy. Even a little counts a lot.
Take notice, me aro tonu:
Enjoy the moment, notice the world around you, cultivate mindfulness.
Learn, me ako tonu:
Be curious and seek out new experiences. Literally exercise your brain.
Give, tukua:
Practice kindness; give your time, words and actions.
Building these actions into our everyday lives can improve our wellbeing and boost our resilience, and many of these will already be an important part of your students’ world at school.
To learn more about the Five Ways, check out this simple guide from The Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand.
