Lancs school launches world's biggest lesson

Aimed at helping children deal with mental health issues, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, around half a million pupils from around the world will be getting together to discuss mental health and well-being with some of the world’s biggest names.

Besides the youngsters, people including Bear Grylls, Captain Dave Henson OBE who founded the Invictus Games and Heather Small from M people will speak alongside Lady Gaga’s mum, Cynthia Germanotta, a mental health ambassador from the World Health Organisation.

The global classroom event, One Global Mind, has been organised by Scarisbrick Hall School in partnership with the World Health Organisation to bring together the world’s schoolchildren to connect and have a voice during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

It is also supported by UNICEF, National Geographic, Smithsonian, BMG Production Music and Penguin Books.

The live, one-hour event will take place on Thursday at 4.30 pm and focus on mental wellbeing among school-age children aged from nine to 18.

The guests have been hand picked because they all overcame adversity, and it is hoped their resilience and courage will inspire children during struggling through the pandemic.

Jeff Shaw, headmaster at the Southport Road independent school , near Preston, and co-founder of The Global Classroom, said: "Lockdown has unified the world and children have more common ground with those in other countries than ever before and this was a way to share conversation and connect with each other.

"However, we’re at risk of a ticking time bomb in terms of their mental health being absent from the conversation so we wanted to launch The Global Classroom to give children that voice. "

He added: "Our upcoming event is the most important one yet as mental wellbeing is such an important topic and at Scarisbrick Hall School we want to make sure our students are best equipped to deal with modern life.

"A great deal of importance is placed on maths, English and science, but we believe they should be complemented with life skills including resilience, independence, moral values, exploration and reflection.

“The raft of speakers we have lined up for One Global Mind truly reflect these qualities and I am personally very excited to hear what they say."

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO, said: "COVID-19 has turned lives upside down for people worldwide, including children, with millions forced home and disconnected from their regular classroom environment.

"But there is much we can and must do to care for the physical and mental health and wellbeing of children at this time. Initiatives like the virtual Global Classroom play an important role in connecting with young people and offering a place to share their thoughts and receive advice to protect their health and deal with challenging issues they may face."

Two global classroom events have already been trialled with more than 150,000 children from 193 countries tuning into the first.

Scarisbrick Hall pupils who took part included Jessica Price, aged 15, who said: "This once in a lifetime experience changed my perspective on song writing."

Jessica took part in the tutorial with Jason Mraz following the live session

Charlie Collins ,11, added: "This was a big opportunity for me with many pupils sending in questions. I enjoyed being able to find out more about the virus first hand with experts, on a global basis."