Joint efforts to build healthy campus for students’ wellness

As the summer holiday draws to a close with less than a week to go, students are likely filled with anticipation and excitement for the new school year. The Education Bureau (EDB) remains committed to working closely with schools, parents, various government departments and non-governmental organisations with love and concrete actions to build a caring and harmonious campus where students can embark on the new school year with joy. We call on schools to keep students’ mental health at the forefront of their priorities in this coming year, and to focus on fostering positivity among students to build a healthy and happy campus.

     In the 2024/25 school year, the EDB has continued to roll out a series of initiatives, including the newly launched 4Rs Mental Health Charter (4Rs Charter), which highlights Rest, Relaxation, Relationship and Resilience as the four essential elements in promoting mental health, to create an environment conducive to the healthy development of students.

Active participation in 4Rs Charter

     The 4Rs Charter encompasses four interconnected elements and goals of mental health promotion that are equally important in promoting student mental health. They are:

*Rest: To help students develop healthy habits from a young age, such as having sufficient rest, adequate sleep and engaging in leisure activities.

*Relaxation: To teach students to take the time to relax, take care of their mental health and practise self-compassion.

*Relationship: To strengthen students’ relationships with their peers, teachers and parents to enhance their sense of connectedness; and help students understand their roles and significance in these relationships, thereby fostering their willingness to take on responsibilities and make contributions.

* Resilience: To equip students to adapt to the inevitable stress and setbacks in life, and teach them to handle their emotions, cope with stress and overcome difficulties with a positive attitude.

     Schools joining the 4Rs Charter are expected to implement various measures and organise activities to promote student mental health starting from the 2024/25 school year, with a view to helping students develop healthy living habits and positive interpersonal relationships, providing more opportunities to relax and unwind, and enhance their sense of well-being and resilience, thereby enhancing the overall culture of health in schools.

     The 4Rs Charter represents a commitment by the EDB and schools to build a healthy and happy campus. As a token of this commitment, the EDB has presented each participating school with a 4Rs roly-poly doll in the new school year. Together with the slogan “Take a break, loosen up, give 4Rs roly-poly doll a hug”, the doll serves to encourage schools to proactively implement the 4Rs Charter’s action pledges and foster resilience among students. The doll also helps create a relaxing atmosphere on campus, where students can hug or pat it.

     The EDB has updated the “Start the New School Year Full of Energy” webpage With the theme of 4Rs to offer specific suggestions for schools and parents. It has also consolidated various community and EDB resources, including “4Rs Self-care Roadmap” and “4Rs Art Activity Ideas” to help students maintain physical and mental health, as well as “Useful 4Rs Tips for Parents as School Begins” for parents to help their children adapt to their new school years based on the 4Rs approach, and to guide them to adopt a growth mindset in facing challenges.

Enhancing mental health literacy through various measures

     In addition, the EDB has continued to implement various measures in recent years to introduce more professional support and heighten resources for schools through cross-departmental and cross-sectoral collaboration, so as to safeguarding student mental health with the schools, teachers and parents.

     Enhancing mental health literacy can effectively prevent and reduce the risk of mental health problems. To this end, the EDB has been developing and launching “Mental Health Literacy” resource packages for different learning stages in phases since last year, so as to assist teachers and school personnel to promote mental health literacy in class.
Following the release of the resource package for upper primary levels in November last year, the junior secondary package has now been uploaded onto the “Mental Health Literacy Resource Package” page of the “Mental Health@School” website for reference and use by school personnel. This package teaches students the various ways to maintain their physical and mental health; enhance students' understanding of the early symptoms and effective treatments of mental health disorders, and encourage them to seek help at an early stage; fosters a positive and inclusive attitude towards people suffering from mental health issues and remove the negative labelling; and encourage students to take the initiative in caring for others and helping one another, thereby cultivating a help-seeking culture.

     Maintaining students’ physical and mental well-being is the primary responsibility of educators, and the role of class teachers is particularly important. Especially at the beginning of the school term, class teachers can organise various class-based activities to help students get to know each other and enhance their sense of connectedness. Teachers should reach out and care for students’ emotional needs, listen to their concerns, and build up mutual trust. Schools should allocate time for daily teacher-student communication and sharing to foster a culture of communication, trust and care, thereby building a stronger safety net for students. Schools may make reference to the “Preparing for New School Year” activities on the “Shall We Talk – Adjusting to Challenges of New School Year” webpage, as well as the classroom management activities suggested on the EDB’s “Start the New School Year Full of Energy” webpage.

     Meanwhile, schools are encouraged to make good use of existing resources, including the “One-off Grant for Mental Health at School” and the “One-off Grant for Mental Health of Parents and Students”, to organise activities related to the support of students’ mental health or to procure relevant services and items. For details, please refer to EDB circular memoranda No. 216/2023 and No. 217/2023.

     Furthermore, we have partnered with organisations funded by the Jockey Club Embrace Life Series 2.0 initiative to provide counselling services for students, organise workshops for teachers or parents and arrange on-site support services for students in the new school year. For details, please visit the “Start the New School Year Full of Energy” page of the “Mental Health@School” website.

Cultivating a healthy lifestyle through home-school co-operation

     The self-image and mental health of adolescents are profoundly influenced by parenting styles of parents. The Positive Parent Campaign organsied by the EDB this year will put more emphasis on encouraging parents and students to develop a healthy lifestyle and attend to their physical and mental well-being, thereby promoting the happy and healthy development of their children. Among the various activities organised under the Campaign, the “Healthy Living, Happy Family” Series encourages parents and children to establish healthy habits together, including adequate sleep, daily exercise and participation in leisure activities, so that both parents and children can relax and take care of their physical and mental well-being, which contributes to the happy and healthy development of children. The EDB has also collated and produced relevant parent education resources, including short videos and infographics, which are available on the “Parent Zone” page of the “Mental Health@School” website and the “Physical and Mental Health” page of the “Smart Parent Net” website for parents to learn and prepare for the new school year with their children.

“4Rs Mental Health Charter” Webpage:
https://mentalhealth.edb.gov.hk/en/promotion-at-the-universal-level/promotional-resources-for-schools/121.html
(Chinese version only)

“Start the New School Year Full of Energy” Webpage:
https://mentalhealth.edb.gov.hk/en/promotion-at-the-universal-level/promotional-resources-for-schools/135.html
(Chinese version only)

“Shall We Talk” “Adjusting to Challenges of New School Year” Webpage:
https://www.shallwetalk.hk/en/news/adjusting-to-challenges-of-new-school-year/

“Mental Health Literacy Resource Package” Webpage:
https://mentalhealth.edb.gov.hk/en/promotion-at-the-universal-level/promotional-resources-for-schools/142.html
(Chinese version only)

“Mental Health@School” Parent Zone Webpage:
https://mentalhealth.edb.gov.hk/en/promotion-at-the-universal-level/parent-zone/index.html

“Smart Parent Net” Physical and Mental Health Webpage
https://www.parent.edu.hk/en/smart-parent-net/topics/healthy

EDB Circular Memorandum No. 216/2023
https://applications.edb.gov.hk/circular/upload/EDBCM/EDBCM23216E.pdf

EDB Circular Memorandum No. 217/2023
https://applications.edb.gov.hk/circular/upload/EDBCM/EDBCM23217E.pdf

27 August 2024