We have now reached the end of Pillar 1.

We focused on the two takeaway points of;

Discovering how we can use sport and our hobbies to maintain a healthy mental balance

The importance of a healthy balanced diet for sports and everyday life

As we reflect back on what we have learnt over this Pillar we asked the boys to think about the following question

How have my Friends Helped me in Achieving a Healthy Balanced Lifestyle?

We asked the boys to think about this and then write down their responses so we could make it into a picture collage.

We continued on our journey along Pillar 1 by focusing on a 2nd important point.

The importance of a healthy balanced diet for sports and everyday life

Health is intrinsically linked to our diet. Our diet directly influences the body’s functions and builds our physical strength. A balanced diet helps us maintain good mental and physical wellbeing.

From a young age, we’re taught that eating well helps us look and feel our physical best. What we’re not always told is that good nutrition significantly affects our mental health, too. A healthy, well-balanced diet can help us think clearly and feel more alert. It can also improve concentration and attention span.

Conversely, an inadequate diet can lead to fatigue, impaired decision-making, and can slow down reaction time. In fact, a poor diet can actually aggravate, and may even lead to, stress and depression.

In addition eating well for physical activity and sport can have many benefits including:

• allowing you to perform well in your chosen sport or activity
• reducing the risk of injury and illness
• ensuring the best recovery after exercise or a training programme

Our first Pillar is Healthy Body and Healthy Minds.

This is a very broad topic which takes into consideration anything and everything that leads to our mental and physical wellbeing. In order to focus us on a particular area, Mr Rob the advocate for this pillar has challenged us first to think about;

Discovering how we can use sport and our hobbies to maintain a healthy mental balance

We all have hobbies and passions but perhaps we are not conscious of how good these can be for us. We discussed this in our House Meeting and had a presentation on the topic from Adi. He presented to the rest of the House how it is important we make time to continue our hobbies in the busy boarding life we lead. Adi likes to play the guitar and finds this both a challenge to keep his mind alert, active and learning; but it is also therapeutic and relaxing for him. He feels calmer and more relaxed after he spends 20 minutes practising and it gives him a sense of accomplishment which boosts his self-esteem.

Likewise, anyone who enjoys running, painting, juggling, judo, cooking or the 1001 other hobbies that we have will benefit from making sure we take the time to do and enjoy them!

This year we continue with our Wellbeing Programme. Each year this had grown with success as we find the best way to educate the students on these important topics.

The Wellbeing Pillars are;

Healthy Body, Healthy Minds
Respecting Diversity and Protecting Against Bullying
Building Positive Friendships
Online Safety
Making Safe and Responsible Choices

Each Pillar is led by an advocate who has a passion for sharing and guiding us on these topics.

With our close proximity to the lake, we are fortunate to be able to enjoy the lake activities.

Today we did some Tubing and enjoyed the fresh water on this warm day.

video by Mr Dowan

Olympus is Open. We are back and ready for your arrival!!

This weekend Mr Usher and Mrs Usher undertook a 175km bike ride around Lake Leman raising funds for the SOA Charity.

To sponsor them please scan the QR code or VISIT HERE

Following on from Pillar 1 in September we continued the theme of Healthy Body & Healthy Minds by having a May Fitness Challenge. Organised by Mr Rob from Leman 1 who is the advocate for this Pillar. He set a daily fitness challenge for the boarding community to compete in each day this month. Those who win the day, win the prize and get their photos displayed in the dining room. An example of this was today’s challenge “How many Mountain Climbers can you do in 30 seconds”. Our Davyd was keen to compete in this and organised it with his friends with the following results

Maksim: 96
Davyd: 94
Ayu: 91
Leonid: 59