Wolseley holds Wellness Week

Arts, crafts and creativity help foster wellbeing at Wolseley School. 

From March 22 to 26, the school held a Wolseley Wellness Week, which saw students participating in a variety of artistic activities. 

“We decided to apply for a Wellness grant through the City of Winnipeg because a lot of fun school activities have been drastically modified or cancelled completely for the kids,” said Wolseley principal Brian Rogowsky. 

“Mental health has been a concern during the pandemic and it’s certainly something we want to address, so we thought it would be fun to have a Wolseley Wellness Week and connect it to the arts.”

On March 25, Nursery and Kindergarten students participated virtually in a dragon puppet making workshop with Carrie Costello from Castlemoon Theatre, while Grades 3 and 4 students tried their hands at djembe during an African drumming session with Jay Stoller of NAfro. 

"It was nice for someone to come in and do something different, even during COVID. I felt happy to do something different than just school,” said Leo, a Grade 4 student.

"I was really tired that morning and it made me not tired. I was sad when it was over because I wanted to do more. It was very fun," said Aubrey, a Grade 4 student.

Wolseley Wellness Week also included sculpting sessions with Winnipeg Adult Education Centre teacher Alison Foster, as well as a COVID-safe DJ dance party on March 26. 

“I liked squishing the clay. I made a surfing gecko. It was fun doing it with friends, together,” said Indie, a Grade 5 student.

In addition to students, Wolseley was able to support local artists with the $2,500 grant.

“One of the ideas for this project was to support local artists during the pandemic, because we know that their work has been drastically cut or modified as well,” Rogowsky said. 

The other big winner of Wolseley Wellness Week was the school’s staff.

“The staff are seeing their student’s joy and experiencing their own joy as well,” Rogowsky said.

“Our staff really needed it too. They’ve worked so hard and done so much for our students, so it’s nice to give back to them a little bit too.”