Key skill 07 / 08
Staying Well
Looking after body and mind: rest, food, feelings, and knowing what helps. The looking-after that matters more than any subject.
01What it looks like at home
This one hides in plain sight. It's the choices she makes to keep herself steady, fed, rested and calm.
- Noticing she's tired, hungry or overwhelmed. And doing something about it.
- Choosing to move: a walk, a cycle, a kick-about. Without being sent.
- Naming a feeling instead of only acting it out.
- Knowing what settles her, and reaching for it herself.
02From a moment to the log
Here are three real-shaped moments. You write a line when it happens, and Sustenance suggests the skill it shows. That is the whole job.
Getting wound up over a tricky drawing, she said "I need to stop for a bit." Went and lay on her bed with the cat for ten minutes, then came back to it calmer.
Said she felt "fizzy and cross for no reason," worked out she'd not been outside all day, and took herself off for a cycle round the green.
Made her own breakfast: porridge with the banana that needed using. Said she sleeps better on the days she doesn't have screens after dinner.
A line is plenty. You don't tag it, write it up, or grade it. You note what happened, and the skill comes attached. Add a photo if there's one to hand.
03In the report
When review comes round, those scattered moments are already gathered under the skill, written up in plain, assessor-ready language. This is the Staying Well section of a term report, drawn from the moments above and others like them.
Staying Well
7 moments loggedAoife showed Staying Well through a growing awareness of her own physical and emotional needs and a readiness to act on them. She recognises early signs of frustration or low mood, names feelings accurately, and chooses helpful strategies like rest, movement, food and time outdoors without prompting. Notable examples include stepping away from a frustrating task to self-regulate and returning calmer [12 May], identifying that a restless mood was linked to being indoors and choosing exercise [14 May], and making sensible independent choices about food and sleep [24 May].
- Drawn from
- 12 MayRecognised frustration and took a break to reset.
- 14 MayLinked mood to inactivity and chose to exercise.
- 24 MayMade independent, sensible food and sleep choices.
- + 4 moreA worry talked through, a hand-washing habit, an early night she chose.
The wellbeing you quietly tend to every day is visible now, the part of growing up that no exam ever measures.