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COVID19

Supporting Children and Young People at Home 

Introduction COVID-19 has given rise to increased levels of uncertainty and time spent at home. Positive Psychology focuses on strengths and people’s ability to thrive. The PERMA acronym highlights 5 key areas for wellbeing that focus on strengths rather than difficulties. These are: Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment. The guide below outlines each area with ideas about how to explore these with children at home. The examples can be adapted based on your child and what they enjoy.

 

View the PERMA Model of Wellbeing

 

 

Is someone you love very ill?

Published by CBN at the National Children’s Bureau reg. charity 258825, to help young people during the COVID19 outbreak.  For more ideas and local and national support organisations, email cbn@ncb.org.uk

Download the resource here

 

 

How to...
Sleep better

HEAL – The four pillars of good sleep
There are four main factors that affect the quality of your sleep:

  1. Health
  2. Environment
  3. Attitude
  4. Lifestyle

 

How to...
Overcome fear and anxiety 

Fear and anxiety

Fear is one of the most powerful emotions. It has a very strong effect on your mind and body

 

How to...
Look after your mental health

What is mental health?

 ‘Hi, how are you
doing?’
‘I’m good thanks, glad
it’s the weekend. You?’

‘Bit fed up actually;
it just feels like
everything I do goes
wrong.’

 

 

Sumo Guide to Living and Learning Together - A free practical guide for teachers, parents and carers to support children during the Coronavirus crisis

You would expect an organisation like the SUMO4Schools Foundation to say that mental health and well being matters too. After all, we exist to promote and teach mental and emotional health and well being and resilience to children and teachers using the SUMO techniques, but we know that SUMO can help us all to stay mentally healthy and look after our well being. This means we can take responsibility to cope with the ups and downs of life and embrace and manage the full range of emotions that goes with it.

Of course, many teachers and parents will be feeling additional pressure and even overwhelmed right now. Teachers have had to quickly adapt from their busy teaching schedules to working out how they can provide some meaningful education at a distance. Parents are also navigating additional challenges on their families that they were not prepared for, while organising some meaningful home-schooling duties they never expected to have. All while trying to follow disease-prevention measures to keep themselves and their families safe.

Children too are being significantly impacted by this crisis of course. Most have had to quickly come to terms with huge changes to their lives when most children feel most secure and able to thrive when they have routine, familiarity and predictability. There is also the inevitable worry and anxiety that comes from limited ability to understand a pandemic and its impact on lives,  especially for younger children.

View the guide here

  

 

Get Well Soon Video

Watch it here

 

 

Loudmouth Resources

Quiz: Interactive PowerPoint Quiz on Mental Health & Wellbeing

E Book: Lesson Plan E Book on mental wellbeing for Key Stage 2

E Book: Lesson Plan E Book on mental wellbeing for Key Stage 3 & 4

Lesson Plan: An exercise for Key Stage 3 & 4 to explore the support networks for those affected by eating disorders

Lesson Plan: An exercise for Key Stage 3 & 4 to explore exam stress

Teacher Training: Create a Character Technique - Bullying.

 

 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice and support for parents and carers

Whether you're working from home with your kids for the first time or supporting children with anxiety due to coronavirus, we've got tips and advice for you.

 

 

Talking to Children Worried About Coronavirus

If a child is anxious or worried about coronavirus (COVID-19), there are things you can do to help. And if they're struggling with their mental health, Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families have advice to help you support them and keep them safe.

 

 

Other resources on Covid-19 and mental health and wellbeing

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread around the world, toymaker Playmobil has launched a video to help children understand and learn about the outbreak.  The five-minute-long video, which is titled ROBert explains the coronavirus to children”, uses the company’s colourful set pieces and familiar, comforting characters to relay information to children who might have questions or are feel anxious about the current situation. 

Watch the video here

The short film is narrated by Playmobil’s robot figure ROBert, who guides children through the facts in a non-frightening way, explaining why they have to stay inside, wash their hands more often and cannot go to school. The video also gives children ideas of ways they can spend their time at home to ensure they still have fun, including listening to music and podcasts, making crafts, reading books and watching movies. It also explains social distancing and the measures everyone must follow to help slow the spread of the virus such as not touching your face and sneezing and coughing into your elbow.

 

 

Additional Resources of Interest 

 

 

BBC Growth Mindset and Wellbeing Resource

View it here

 

 

Supporting children and young people

Our new, free Supporting Schools and Colleges booklet provides advice and guidance for school staff about how to help children and young people manage their mental health and wellbeing during times of disruption to their learning.

We recognise that many children and young people will have questions and concerns about the current coronavirus pandemic. With constant news, social media and a high level of uncertainty, children and adults will probably be feeling more stressed at the moment. Children may have questions, behave differently or appear more upset and it can be difficult to know what to say.
 

 

 

Talking to Children and Young People About Coronavirus

  1. Not knowing what to say is ok - Remember this isn't a normal situation. There are lots of unknowns right now and we will be in situations that none of us have had experience of. 

  2. Be honest and factual - It's a good idea to give children factual information. This might mean checking current UK advice and guidance so that you are aware of the current situation. Sometimes if there are gaps in a child's understanding of something, they can fill these gaps with their imagination, which has a tendency to suggest things are worse than they are!

  3. Give children the opportunity to explain their understanding - This will help you to spot if a child or young person has misunderstood something, or is thinking the worst.

  4. Remember your child's age - Adjust the amount and detail of information according to your child's age. Too much information can be overwhelming. Try to answer the questions they ask.

  5. Try to manage your own worries - If you're feeling anxious or overwhelmed, try not to have a conversations about Coronavirus at that time. Children will pick up on your anxiety in the moment, and it may heighten their own emotional reactions. It's OK to feel worried, but check in with yourself first - are you in the right space to have this conversation?

  6. Give practical and specific guidance - Explain how viruses are spread, and help children to understand that they can do things to help. Learn how to wash your hands together, explain how soap is effective against viruses, sing a song while you wash your hands. 

 

 

Additional resources to support conversations with children and young people

Educational Psychologist advice on talking to children about coronavirus

UNICEF eight tips to help comfort and reassure children

BBC Newsround pages for children and young people 

 

 

What is Coronavirus? - Help Children Understand

The Coronavirus pandemic presents additional challenges for children and young people as they adapt to new social distancing measures. To help parents, carers and professionals explain Coronavirus to children we're sharing age appropriate resources to help reduce heightened levels of anxieties for young people. 

To support different forms of learning, we have prepared: a short animation, a story book and an activity that supports you to tackle misinformation and help children understand Coronavirus.

 

 

 

Coronavirus Information for Young Children  

Useful PDF for use with Primary School children.

 

 

 

Self Care for Children and Young People

This self-care resource for On My Mind has many simple self-care activities which young people can do at home. Written by young people to help other young people who are feeling low or anxious. The strategies should also be useful to adults.  

 

 

Supporting children during school closures

This advice has been created by Gloucestershire Educational Psychology Service and taken from the Gloucestershire County Council website.

  1. Expect things to feel a little more stressed - It unusual for families to spend extended time in close proximity to each other and it may be stressful at times. 

  2. Try to have a routine - Routines and predictability can lower stress levels. We all like to know what is going to happen during a day and children are no different. Perhaps create a daily routine together so that there is some consistency. 

  3. It's OK if the routine wobbles - Homes just aren't as structured as schools are and so it's normal for the routine to slip a bit. If creating and sticking to routine is causing more stress than it's worth, then its OK to be more free flow.

  4. Don't try to replicate school - Home is home, school is school. It would be unrealistic to try to recreate a whole school timetable at home. Most children and young people will not want to do this, and pushing this is likely to lead to tension and conflict.

  5. If children are working at home, try to keep work in one place - It's important to have a home-work boundary. Is there a specific place where children can do their work and then keep it safe? If there isn't a specific space, then perhaps encourage children to mark that work has finished e.g. tidying up and dancing to a song!

  6. Help children communicate with their friends - Use Skype groups calls or WhatsApp.

  7. Limit access to constant news streams - It can be tempting to have the news on the TV, Radio or Social Media all the time but such a barrage of information can be stressful for children. Set yourself times to catch up with the news, and then you can share the key points and highlights with children.  

"Alone, we can do so little; together we can do so much" (Helen Keller) 

Activity  for Secondary Schools and Colleges (12-18 year olds)

InvestIN was founded on the premise that young people should be excited about the future; a future that they can shape themselves, if they are just given the right time and attention by successful people who want to inspire others. 

Amidst the problems caused by Covid-19, we must do all we can to empower the next generation to take ownership over their futures. 

InvestIN therefore calls upon all ambitious young people to join our 'Compassion and Action Movement'. 

We invite students aged 12-18 to deliver the most inspiring and creative message of hope they can muster. For each entry we receive, we shall make a donation to the World Health Organisation's Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund. By contributing to our movement you will therefore help improve both mental and physical health, through messages of hope and assistance to experts who are working tirelessly to find solutions.

Students can enter now by clicking here. The deadline for entries is 5pm on Sunday April 5th.

Students' entries can be in any form: a video, mood board, poem, piece of art - whatever allows them to best express themselves! Entries should be based on a theme of 'Compassion and Action.' Our judges will select a shortlist of the best ones. We will then compile a 'Compassion and Action' collage of these winning entries, which will be circulated to more than 300,000 teachers, parents and students globally, with the names of the winners fully-credited.

 

 

Suggested daily plan for primary school children at home with parents / carers during school closures

(thanks to Swindon Village Primary School)

 

Resources and activities for primary children, while school is closed

 First of all, our SCARF online resources remain open to you throughout school closures. So please feel free to make use of them if they can support your take-home packs for children.

 We're also working hard now to create a whole new page on our website, dedicated to providing children with regular activities to support their physical and emotional health at this time of great uncertainty and change.

Harold – our happy, healthy giraffe mascot  and a favourite with children – will be posting a daily blog: Harold's Daily Diary! 

Each day he'll be giving children positive, fun messages about what he's doing to stay happy and healthy while he's off school, separated from his friends. He'll invite the children to join in with activities he's doing.

He'll be giving children ideas for how he – and they – can get a routine going for their day, including the things we all need to do to live a balanced, healthy life. These include:

  • Taking regular exercise
  • Being creative
  • Helping others
  • Connecting with others – in ways that are safe
  • Mindfulness – learning to enjoy the moment, here and now.

We know that having a routine and structure will be very important to all of us at this challenging time. For children, in particular, routines help to provide a sense of security that will help a lot at this time of uncertainty.

We're going to kick this off on Monday 23rd March; Harold will introduce the children to his Daily Plan. There will be a template version of this that the children can download – or copy from the website – and fill in for themselves. 

Please feel free to share the link with parents – it's already live and Harold has put a little message on it. He'll be adding more, later today!  https://www.coramlifeeducation.org.uk/harolds-daily-diary

Each day we'll be putting different activities onto our Harold's Daily Diary page. There will be activities for different age groups – something for everyone!  These will help children to complete their own Daily Plan.  All the activities are family-friendly, so siblings or whole families who are at home together will be able to do things together.

Harold will update his blog at 9a.m. every day from Monday to Friday (there'll be a break at weekends).

 

Dealing with loss and bereavement

When someone you know dies, the grief that follows can be a really difficult and painful process. People are sometimes surprised by just how painful it can be, and just how long the process can last.

This short video won't take that pain away, but it does have some ideas based on what other young people have said, that might help you through it.

Below the video we've included links to some charities who offer a range of support for young people who may be grieving.  You can look at each organisation, read their advice and contact them direct if you would like someone to talk to or need support.

 

INSIDE OUT

Young people's health and wellbeing: a response to COVID-19

 

Looking beyond the infection rates and tragic deaths from COVID-19 it
is important to understand the disproportionate impact the pandemic
has had on children and young people’s health and wellbeing. This
report reviews the most recent analysis of young people’s mental
health and considers further their physical health and wellbeing -
learning lessons from lockdown for future spikes of COVID-19 and
local lockdowns too. Click here to read more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a new strain of the virus which spreads even faster.

With the emergence of a new and highly transmissible strain of Covid-19, it is more important than ever to continue to encourage behaviours to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

 

 

Around 1 in 3 people have no symptoms and could be spreading it without realising it.

 

 

 

Everyone should act as if they have the virus, even if they do not show any symptoms.

 

 

 

Anyone can spread coronavirus.

 

 

 

 

Remember: Hands. Face. Space

 

 

 



Tagged under: Coronavirus, worried, new strain, variant, sleep, PERMA, ill, NSPCC, growth mindset, covid 19, facts 4 life, self care, loss, bereavement, inside out

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