Health in the Eye of the Storm

Today we had an unusual In-Service day. Under the banner of Health and Wellbeing, our cluster, teachers, support staff and office staff, was treated to a whole day with a broad programme of workshops from salsa to pilates, well woman/man to meditation. (We had previously made a choice of 8 from which we were allocated to 4.) We were given a healthy and appetising lunch and given time to browse a "market place" of health promoting stalls.

The keynote speaker, Andy McKechnie was very entertaining as well as motivating.

I feel energised by the sessions I attended: salsa, posture and fitness, massage and "health in the eye of the storm". I had my cholesterol and blood pressure properly checked by a doctor at the drop-in (both reassuringly fine) and had a brief but very helpful chat with her.

I am hopeful. This is a new approach for our target-driven hierarchy, supporting with action the idea that treating people as people instead of numbers or statistics will benefit everyone. Don Ledingham, Director of a neighbouring Authority has written about his take on mental health and wellbeing. Our own Director spoke in a very personal way about managing stress and the importance of balance. I remembered Ian Smith of Learning Unlimited at SLF08 saying that a teacher needs the skills of a tightrope walker - not, as you might think, safely balanced, but being able to cope with being a bit off balance.

And it's interesting to observe the positive effect of finishing at 3.15, chatting with other teachers who had enjoyed the day, and no tedious plenary to sit through at the end.