Bolton mental health organisation WHYSUP is offering a series of animated lessons for Year 6 primary school children to prepare them for the often-traumatic move to secondary school life.
WHYSUP, which was founded five years ago by schoolfriends Liam McBride and Mark Murray who had both battled with addiction and mental health, raises awareness and understanding around mental health and addiction. It works across business, education and sports to promote wellbeing. The new primary school programme was developed in partnership with Chorley agency Creative Individuals.
McBride said: “We realised that the preparation in Year 6 could dictate how the following years in secondary school would unfold for pupils. Secondary school offers a whole new environment and routine for youngsters, different social circles and exposure to potential risks. We wanted to address all these so we created an interactive programme with the help of secondary school pupils who had already gone through this process.”
The new Year 6 primary school programme is a package of stand-alone, interactive lessons and supporting resources to upskill young people and provide support for teachers and parents. They look at everything from mental health and the importance of talking and sharing feelings to social media risks, gaming and wellbeing. The programme features animated versions of Mark, Liam and colleague Nicole.
Murray added: “The platform can be accessed from anywhere on any device and the lesson content and resources are all simply contained within the platform. There is also ongoing technical support from the WHYSUP team.”
