WellFest '25 Annual Student Wellbeing Event

Southborough pulls out all the stops to host another successful ‘university fair’ style event on wellbeing.

For the third year running, Southborough hosted it’s highly successful ‘WellFest’ event, a lively ‘university fair ’style event specifically designed to bring together a wide range of charities, organisations and clubs that either offered practical help, advice and counselling to those suffering from mental health issues – or focused on maintaining positive mental health and preventing issues from arising.

This year ‘WellFest’ saw even more service providers taking part and a greater number of students from the local schools visited. Research undertaken by Southborough suggested that a significant number of students were unsure of where to go for help regarding their mental health. ‘WellFest’ gave visitors the unique opportunity to engage face-to-face with experts, gaining valuable insights and advice on seeking help and/or nurturing their mental wellbeing. Students were therefore able to secure the tools and strategies to build resilience, enhance self-care, forge connections with like-minded peers and provide support for those struggling. And all within a caring, lively and fun environment!                  

Treatment and Prevention

The event was split into two basic disciplines, namely TREATMENT and PREVENTION.

There were plenty of organisations present that were there to offer practical support, treatment and advice to visitors as well and included the Samaritans, Papyrus, Your Healthcare, Mental Health Support Teams in Schools (MHST), The Grace Dear Trust and Achieving for Children.

In addition to our own P.E department, we also had a great number of organisations & clubs present focusing on a wide range of activities designed to engage, inspire and promote good wellbeing. These included Express CIC, photography, chess, samba band, Warhammer and drawing clubs.             

All Southborough students were given the opportunity to visit ‘WellFest’ and in all, ‘WellFest’ benefitted in excess of 1200 primary and secondary pupils and staff.

Physics Teacher and Mental Health Lead Practitioner Mr Punter, together with a key group of Sixth Formers and Mental Health Student Ambassadors, worked tirelessly to secure the success of the day and we’d like to say a very big thank you for all their efforts in making ‘WellFest’ such a success. In addition, we’d also like to say a big thank you to Art Teacher Ms Geering and her team of Art G.O.T. learners, who produced all the fabulous planet-themed artwork, and Mrs Taylor who made the venue so bright and welcoming!