Westminster’s 2024 Mental Health Awareness Week saw a host of fun, occasionally surreal, events taking place across the School, to shift the focus from work to wellbeing during one of the toughest times of the year, when the school term is a busy and a long one, and the days are short.

An unusual sight (and smell!) at School was a miniature farm taking over Ashburnham Garden in the shadow of Westminster Abbey on Friday lunchtime. There was a buzz as pupils left lessons to meet Flora the pony and three friendly goats, discussing guinea pig habits, feeding bunnies, and trying to keep a donkey from wondering off. The zoo ended a week of events that included ‘Tea and Chat’ in Chapel, candy floss in Yard, hot chocolate at breaktimes, dance and yoga sessions and the opportunity to be involved in the making of a communal art mural.

Head Boy and Head Girl, Alexandra (Remove, BB) and Alexander (Remove, LL) started the week with a fact-filled Abbey address on the need for sleep in maintaining mental and physical wellbeing. Alexandra opened-up about her own experiences with lack of sleep: “…having experienced a variety of poor sleep schedules, 3.00am bedtimes, and midnight work sessions, all I can say is that it’s not worth it” and pointed to research showing that less sleep can lead to shorter life expectancy. She added: “Sleep is not an option; it’s not something you earn, it’s a non-negotiable, biological necessity”.

Alexander spoke of the frightening figures associated with the clocks going forward each spring, and asked his audience whether they knew that when: “an hour of sleep is ‘lost’, there’s a 24% increase in heart attacks? Sadly, traffic accidents and suicide rates also increase after the clocks change.” The Heads of School urged their peers to stay on top of the amount of sleep they are getting, as it is largely within our control and has a measurable effect on our lives. He concluded with some final words of wisdom: “Try and spend this week playfully discovering the magic of what a bit more sleep can do — just don’t get caught napping in lessons!”

It was a week that brought the whole school together to consider both self-care and caring for others, and one that provided some cheer and light relief to break up the term.

Deputy Head Boy, Raaghav (Remove, CC) said: “The petting zoo was certainly one of the most memorable lunchtime experiences to have! It was such a unique experience to have a garden full of animals in the middle of central London, and it was such a great way to bring our Mental Health Awareness week to a close.”

Deputy Head Girl, Emily (Remove, PP) said: “Mental Health Awareness Week was organised by the Monitors with the aim to give students some respite in a long and busy term… It provided a great reminder to us all that we should slow down and focus on ourselves, even if only for a short time.”

On the zoo, Sixth Form pupil, Arya said: “This is the most fun I have ever had at breaktime!”

Head Master, Dr Gary Savage, added: “The week was a great success, with powerful talks in Abbey and Latin Prayers; spirit-lifting victuals up Yard (including the candy floss and hot chocolate), various more mindful activities, and finally the petting zoo in Ashburnham Garden. The general idea was to encourage pupils to slow down, spend time together, live in the moment, and enjoy themselves. I sense they did just that.”

The petting zoo was brought to Westminster by Little Party Heaven, an organisation that works closely with donkey sanctuaries across the country to provide animal therapy sessions.