High School Week 7 Newsletter
13th October 2018
Dear Parents/Guardians,
We have come to the end of the first half of the term. I sincerely take this opportunity to thank you so much for your continued support and to our children.
Progress Reports
We will send you the progress report for your child(ren) in the course of next week. Kindly discuss with them on what worked well this half term and what they will need to do in the coming half of the term in order to improve.
Parents, Teachers Consultation Meetings
These meetings will take place immediately we come back from our half term break. Kindly plan to attend the meetings as we discuss the progress of your child with the subject teachers.
Sports Day
This Year’s Annual Sports Day will be held on Friday, 26th October 2018. Parents are invited and encouraged to attend to support and cheer our children. We expect all parents to attend this year’s event.
Uniform Labelling and lost property section
I wish to reiterate the importance of labelling of the school uniform. This will help us reduce the number of items in the lost property section. The uniform must be labelled with two names for easy identification. I hope we will work together to eliminate the lost property in our school. We have in our custody the biggest consignment of lost items from last year. These items mostly, sweaters, fleece jackets and blazers will be donated to charity as they have remained unclaimed.
A Changing World – Children and Mental Health
This week on 10th October we closed school to celebrate a national holiday. The world instead was marking a World Mental Health Day. This is a topic we shy off from discussing but I wish to share some information we all need know as we raise awareness among ourselves and students. Adolescence and the early years of adulthood are a time of life when many changes occur in our children. These can also be times of stress and apprehension with so much peer pressure. In some cases, if not recognized and managed, these feelings can lead to mental illness. The use of technology has brought in many benefits but it has also brought in many additional challenges among our children. Young people living in such situations are vulnerable to mental distress and illness.
What you need to know, signs?
Depression is an illness characterised by persistent sadness and a loss of interest in activities that your child normally enjoys, accompanied by an inability to carry out daily activities expected of them. In addition, there is a loss of energy; a change in appetite and eating habits; sleeping more or less; anxiety; reduced concentration; indecisiveness; restlessness; feelings of worthlessness; guilt or hopelessness; and thoughts of self-harm or suicide.
Age 14
Most of the mental health cases start at this age or sometimes early. Unfortunately, most of these cases are never detected and remain untreated, depression being a leading cause which often lead to children to start exhibiting behaviour such as listed above. Drugs and alcohol among adolescents leads to risky behaviour such as unsafe sex and dangerous driving.
What next?
With this recognition, there is need to help young people to build mental resilience from early ages in order to cope with the challenges of the changing world. Prevention begins with being aware of and understanding the early warning signs and symptoms of mental illness. Parents and teachers can help build life skills of our adolescents to help them cope with everyday challenges at home and school. Psychosocial support can be provided in our school through the school counsellor. We all have adolescents under our care and therefore have a responsibility to help them build mental resilience in order to prevent mental distress and illness. This was the focus for this year’s World Mental Health Day. We all have a duty to support our children.
Have a restful half term break and looking forward to see the children back in school on Monday, 22nd October 2018.
Regards,
Mr. Wallen Nyamota
HEADTEACHER
