Challenge 31

Over the last half term, the school has participated in the inaugural running of Challenge 31, an initiative designed by the new prefect team in partnership with the Mental Health department designed to raise awareness around the school for Mental Health and Wellbeing.
With 31 days in May, and Mental Health Awareness week being the week of the 10th, the challenge was:

To do something in the house-year groups to do with the number 31, this could have been something done once a day for 31 days, once a week for the four weeks in May or simply an accumulative or one-off effort. A list of 31 ideas was released with everything from ’31 karaoke numbers done back-to-back as a group’ to ‘A 31 km relay run’. But it could have been anything that they wanted to do.

The Heads of College Alice and Freddie explained the three goals of the initiative:

To show solidarity as a community with those of the Wellington Community who have suffered with their Mental Health over Lockdown. To reconnect with the house and housemates by doing something as a collective. To start conversations around college about Mental Health, because the more it is talked about, the more the stigma is reduced, something that we are really passionate about.

The Wellington community came alive with creativity, imagination, perseverance and true house spirit in response. Here are some of the highlights:

Welly Rocks
A team of students secretly hid 31 painted rocks around school, they set up an Instagram account and encouraged the school to go on ‘Wellbeing walks’ to take selfies with the rock when they found them. The school really got behind it with hundreds of selfies being sent in.

Lynedoch
The Lynedoch got together for a whole house 31 minute HIIT workout. Celebrating the effects of physical exercise on Wellbeing.

Selfies galore
One of the more popular challenges undertaken was a selfie challenge. Many houses set themselves the aim of getting 31 selfies with different people around college. Here are a few of them from the Hardinge:

Combemere 3rd form
Walked up and down the Kilometre every day for each day of the term!

Keepy-uppies

Both Raglan Lower 6th and Beresford 3rd Form completed 31 keepy-uppies in a row by a team!

Other highlights include the Combemere fourth form who asked 31 different people from around the school to tell them a joke, including Mr Dahl himself! The Talbot Lower Sixth who played a 31 day game of tag, the Talbot fourth form for creating a vlog every day as a group and the whole Hill house who at least attempted to do 31 press ups a day!