This week saw the first TIDE (Team for Inclusion, Diversity and Equality) meeting of the year. These meetings will take place once a month to allow students and teachers to get together to discuss how we support members of our community to feel that they can be themselves and that they will be accepted and supported in our community. The team shared some excellent ideas on how we could make new members of our community feel welcomed when they arrive to Sutton Valence. The team have started to form ideas around setting up mentoring groups to provide a safe space for students to ask questions.

The Fourth Form also had a breakout session on sexuality and respecting individual difference. They discussed the correct terminology to use when discussing sexuality to enable discussions to take place in a respectful way.

Some of our Third Form students had the opportunity to try out various wellbeing practices this week including a breathing exercise, gratitude practice and goal setting. Students also looked into some of the popular social media apps and games to better understand some of the risks involved and how they can keep themselves safe online.

Our Senior Students will all have a session on substance awareness as part of their pathways programme over the next fortnight. They should be able to tell you about the short- and long-term damaging impact of vaping. Here is a TED talk for parents on ‘what you should know about e-cigarettes and vaping’ which you may find interesting.