Of Primary Importance Podcast by ReallySchool: Ep. 10 - Creating a Wellbeing Culture in schools.

In this podcast series we are exploring all things EYFS and primary with different topics and special guests each fortnight. 

In this episode, we are joined by Andrew Cowley. Andrew is a former Primary School DHT who has a commitment to and a passion for wellbeing for children and for school staff. Believing wellbeing to be a strategic consideration as well as a life skill, Andrew co-founded @HealthyToolkit and wrote the accompanying blog, has blogged for Education Support Partnership and BBC Teach. More recently Andrew has been published by Bloomsbury Education: The Wellbeing Toolkit (2019) supports wellbeing for staff and The Wellbeing Curriculum (2021) proposes a broadly defined approach to wellbeing and character development in the primary school.

In this episode we discussed creating a Wellbeing Culture in schools. 

Here are some of the questions I asked Andrew:

• Could you tell us about your wellbeing books?
• Could you tell us a bit about the Healthy Toolkit- what it is and how it all started?
• How would you define wellbeing?
• You mentioned before that wellbeing can be seen as an 'add on' can you explain what you meant by this?
• How can schools create a culture of wellbeing for all staff?
• How can school staff support pupils with their wellbeing and what do you think they should be teaching pupils about wellbeing?
• What are the issues that most negatively impact on staff wellbeing?
• What has been the impact of COVID on wellbeing? Do you feel this has increased awareness of the importance of supporting wellbeing?
•  Where can people find more information and support?

 You can follow Andrew on Twitter at @andrew_cowley23