Activating Wellbeing Champions

Case study

School details

School name: Leigh Academy Strood

Location: Strood, Rochester, ME2 2SX

Phase: Secondary, part of a multi-academy trust

Number of pupils: 1314

Contact details:

Matt Piggott, Vice Principal, matthew.piggott@stroodacademy.org
Amy Panayi, Associate Principal, Amy.Panayi@stroodacademy.org

Impact and outcomes

Introducing Wellbeing Champions has improved staff awareness of the wellbeing support on offer.

Staff appreciate the approachability of the Wellbeing Champions, reporting that the ‘open door policy’ has made it easier to share concerns and feel genuinely heard.

Staff regularly give positive feedback on the wellbeing culture in the school.

Background from Matt Piggott, Vice Principal and Amy Panayi, Associate Principal

At Leigh Academy Strood, part of the Leigh Academy Trust, wellbeing is one of our 10 core values. We are committed to continually developing and enhancing our approach to staff wellbeing. This commitment not only benefits individual staff members but also contributes to higher retention rates and reduced staff sickness levels.

We wanted to make sure that staff felt comfortable raising wellbeing issues and messages got through to the leadership team. We also wanted to make sure resulting actions were communicated back to everyone and new initiatives were owned by the staff.

How we set up our wellbeing team

The wellbeing team includes one volunteer Wellbeing Champion from each school department, one from the support staff and one from the SEND team. Staff are encouraged to volunteer at the start of each academic year.

The wellbeing team meet every half term with the school wellbeing lead to:

share feedback
raise concerns
help maintain a supportive culture within their respective areas

Meetings are 30 minutes long and are counted as directed time.

The wellbeing team reports to the Vice Principle or an Associate Principal. Leadership team decisions on staff suggestions are reported back to staff by the Wellbeing Champions through department meetings or all staff emails. This ensures timely and appropriate responses are implemented in a transparent way.

Wellbeing Champions take the lead

The Wellbeing Champions have now taken the lead on implementing actions discussed at the wellbeing team meetings.

Celebrating staff

Wellbeing Champions have created and presented end-of-year awards for the staff. These include both achievement-based recognitions and light-hearted categories.

We also celebrate staff weekly during Monday morning briefing. Any staff member can nominate another member of staff for the weekly award using an in-house reward scheme. The staff members who receive this award get a coffee and a cake card. Each staff member receives a £10 reward each year to spend on a range of rewards.

Co-curricular offer for staff

The Champions have worked with staff to create a timetable of opt-in wellbeing activities that run alongside the regular school schedule. These include: