Boost Staff Well-being with these 12 Ideas

Dear Leadership,

We love our job as teachers, but as you know, it isn’t always rainbows and sunshine.

It is tough out there in the wild…

We want to keep going, keep showing up for our students, keep making a difference in young lives…

But we need positive energy, motivation and recognition to keep going.

Sound familiar?

Classroom teaching is all-consuming. We don’t become a teacher for the money or fame (no one can argue that). However, a little thank you from time to time does help fill the tank.

If you are looking for ways to show colleagues that you support them and appreciate the exceptional job they’re doing, here are a few ideas on how:

1. Celebrate success, goals or staff milestonesas a team with something out of the ordinary. For example: Organise a coffee van, have a cocktail/mocktail hour after school, or get a corporate massage team in for a day.

2. Create a staff book library where you can share and exchange books (it makes for great discussion around the staff room table as well).

3. Recognise hard work by surprising staff and sending an email instead of running a staff meeting. A perfect time to do this is when semester reports are due!

4. Offer to take someone’s class for an hour so the teacher can go and view another colleague teach (this one is for leadership).

5. Block in a well-being week every term – this is a community event which means no staff meetings, no parent meetings, no staying back late and no homework! You don’t have to host MORE events during this week, just keep it simple and do less!

6. Gift staff a self-care journal, gratitude journal or pay for a self-care app they can add to their phone. These two apps are free for teachers + schools:

Calm – https://www.calm.com/schools
Head space – https://www.headspace.com/educators

7. Throw a surprise morning tea – teachers always enjoy a sweet or savoury treat! You could schedule a morning team each month to celebrate everyone’s birthdays. Just knowing this is on the calendar can lift the team’s spirits.

8. Set up some staff compliment jars so you can show a bit of extra love for each other. You can make paper versions (see below) or use actual jars with names on them. Everybody loves receiving a compliment!

9. Create a staff shout-out wall to celebrate staff wins, acts of kindness or even achievements outside of work

10. Drop random notes on desks or in pigeon holes, so your colleagues know that they are supported.

11. Create little report survival packages to help your colleagues know you are with them in the trenches during report time. You can find these little cars for free here.

12. Make a staff bingo board and have it up in the staff room for everyone to contribute towards. You could include things like: Didn’t jam the photocopier today, drank a HOT coffee, a lesson went off without a hitch etc (anything that celebrates the small wins!)

Building a school culture that values each other and teacher wellbeing is a key to success. Not only will teachers feel supported and valued but the culture rubs off on the students in our care as well.

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If you are a time-poor teacher but want to implement some of these ideas. Check out our ready-to-print resource to promote staff wellbeing at your school.