We teach students about the importance and benefits of healthy habits as part of our Personal, Social, Health and Economic syllabus, and promote physical activity, a balanced diet and self-care activities throughout the curriculum and school life.
Healthy eating
At Ark Soane, lunch time offers an opportunity to students to sit down together to chat with other students and adults and enjoy a tasty meal. Our dining room offers freshly cooked and nutritous hot meals that are enjoyable for our students, staff and visitors.
Our dining room will provide all students with a snack and drink at break and a hot meal every lunchtime – where students will sit down together and serve each other.
We also run a breakfast club where children can get involved in a range of activities and receive a nutritionally balanced meal.
Mental health
We promote positive mental health for every student and staff-member at Ark Soane.
We talk openly about mental health with our students - specifically teaching them how to care for their own mental health through their lifestyle choices and the relationships they form. We ensure that stable, respectful relationships between students and staff enable mental-health concerns to be raised.
We have several members of staff who are trained in providing counselling, emotional support and emotional regulation therapies. We also provide more intensive support and counselling through our collaboration with The Metanoia Institute’s Here4You programme. Here4You is a counselling service that provides high quality, professional mental health services to students to promote wellbeing. Counselling can play a key role in reducing psychological distress and proactively changing the lives of students allowing them to build resilience and obtain life goals.
Physical activity
The aim of the fitness programme is to ensure that pupils receive regular exercise activity. Lessons are designed to raise the heart rate and improve overall fitness, stamina and flexibility. Units across the year and across the school develop the following:
- Flexibility exercise. Children become more agile when they are able to stretch and move their bodies in a full range of motion. Encouraging children to begin stretching in childhood can help them maintain limber physiques throughout life.
- Strength and stamina. Strength exercises can help children build healthy muscles. With an appropriately organised programme, children can advance their strength and stamina. Due to the age of pupils and risk of injury during growth spurts no weights will be used during strength classes; most workouts will focus on non-resistance training and developing stamina.
- Aerobic exercise. Cardiovascular training is an important component of children’s fitness, keeping their heart and lungs strong.
- Circuit training. Children can apply their strength and stamina, and develop greater levels of fitness through circuit training. Circuit training combines aerobic exercise, strength, stamina and flexibility.