As part of continued offer to support the mental health and wellbeing of staff in your school we’d like to introduce our Culture of Kindness toolkit.

There is scientific evidence that kindness to ourselves and each other can reward our bodies and minds with feel-good chemicals. Acts of kindness releases dopamine, a chemical messenger in the brain that give us a feeling of euphoria. Oxytocin is also released making us more trusting, generous, friendlier, and it lowers blood pressure. Being kind also increases serotine that helps regulate mood. Scientific studies are showing that acts of kindness are influencing how we treat certain health conditions such as pain, depression and anxiety. However, the effect of a single act of kindness is not long-lasting. Acts of kindness have to be repeated and something we can work into a daily routine, such as sharing a snack with colleagues or making drinks for each other. For this initiative to have the most impact on staff mental health and well-being, the acts of kindness need be engrained into the culture of the school.

The toolkit focuses on 7 themes for developing a Culture of Kindness in your school:

• Setting the Tone
• Modelling Behaviour
• Creating a Safe and Supportive Environment
• Strengths, Mistakes and Growth Mindset
• Trust Boundaries and Belonging
• Communication and Collaboration
• Celebration

How To Use this Toolkit

This toolkit was designed to have impact on your school community and not just a few activities to make people feel good for a little time, it starts with the staff team and can permeate out to the school community – it is not primarily a resource for pupils.  At a very basic level, school leaders can just pick out some activities and try them with their staff as a team bonding/wellness activity.  However, for its full impact we recommend the following:

• Complete the Self Evaluation Tool – being honest about where your school is and RAG rate each statement (a word version of the evaluation tool is also attached for ease of use)
• Using the RAG rated evaluation pick activities in the 7 themes that are not your strongest to complete with staff
• Re-do the Self Evaluation Tool seeing how far your school has come in developing a Culture of Kindness.

For more details please contact lynsey.norris@lincoln.anglican.org