The pupils, with their winning posters, are congratulated by the Worshipful Mayor of Barnet, Cllr Nagus Narenthira, and Chris Munday, Executive Director of Children Services
Barnet Council is proud to announce the young winners of its annual Children’s Mental Health Week Competition.
Eighteen schools took part in the poster competition, which was one of a series of local awareness-raising initiatives launched by Barnet Council to mark Children’s Mental Health Week – a national event that ran between 5 and 11 February.
The task was to design a poster based on this year’s theme, ‘Your voice matters’.
Pupils were asked to think about what they would say and to whom, and what it meant to them to have their voices heard, before creating a poster with their message. A winner from each key stage was entered into the Barnet inter-school final.
The winners were:
- Rory from Key Stage 1 and Lily from Key Stage 2 of St Vincent’s Primary School
- Sienna from Key Stage 2 of Chalgrove Primary School
- Marceline from Key Stage 3 of East Barnet School
- Natasha from Key Stage 4 of Barnet & Southgate College.
They had their posters displayed in an exhibition at Hendon Town Hall on Friday (9 February). The Worshipful Mayor of Barnet, Cllr Nagus Narenthira, presented £60 in prize vouchers to the winning pupils in each of the four key stages.
Emma Scelsi, Senior Mental Health Lead St Vincent’s, said: “At St Vincent’s, we believe empowering children emotionally is key to academic success. We believe schools need to continue committing to listening to young people to ensure they reach their full potential. Children's Mental Health Week reinforced the importance of supporting well-being. Together, we can all help them thrive.”
Barnet Council has this month introduced a Children’s Mental health charter setting out its commitment to supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.
Co-produced together with more than 200 children and young people, the charter focuses on three key areas: ‘What mental health means to us’, ‘What supports our mental health’ and ‘We need Barnet to commit to…’
Cllr Pauline Coakley Webb, Cabinet Member for Family Friendly Barnet, said: “Barnet Council is committed to supporting and improving the mental health and wellbeing of our children and young people.
“We want our children and young people to know it is ok to, ‘Talk about it’, creating a cohesive and inclusive community where they feel confident, empowered, and enabled to share what they are feeling - be that with family, friends, neighbours, communities, schools, or specialist services.
“This charter is part of our commitment to enable the voices of our children and young people to directly shape the work that we do. It is how we are making Barnet an even better place to live and grow up in.”
BICS Children and Young People's Wellbeing and Mental Health Service supports Barnet’s young people’s mental health and wellbeing with free online resources, hints and tips, and a helpline. Visit barnet.gov.uk/talk-about-it or call our support line on 020 8359 3130, available Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.