Blog
The Importance of Play - Introducing stormbreak’s Play Moves
Play is often misunderstood, seen as unimportant, the opposite of work, or something reserved for the youngest of children. But play is anything but trivial. It’s a vital part of human development...
Mental Health Awareness Week 12th-18th May 2025
Creating mentally healthy communities with stormbreak. The theme of Mental Health Awareness Week 2025 is ‘community’. To date, stormbreak has supported 64,197 children to do 1,586,921 stormbreaks. A stormbreak is a short 5-15 minute movement based activity with associated mentally healthy conversation...
Developing Self-Worth, Empathy, and Respect for Diversity: Decreasing Bullying in Schools
Bullying remains a pervasive issue in schools, workplaces, and online communities. The Anti-Bullying Alliance reported from the pupil bullying and wellbeing questionnaires that...
There is always room for a good idea!
Carl Sutherland, a Head Teacher in Gateshead Tyne and Wear reflects upon becoming a stormbreak Surge school in this academic year...
Reflecting on 2024 with stormbreak
As we look back on a very busy year at stormbreak, we’d love to share what we have achieved, thanks to you: our friends, followers and supporters...
Be Calm: supporting children with anxiety
Sadly, too many people experience anxiety that impacts their mental health. Alarmingly, anxiety afflicts British children more in this generation than earlier ones...
Be More Butterfly
Director of School Operations Darryl Walsh worked in primary schools for 20 years with five years as a Headteacher. In this blog, Darryl shares some invaluable advice and ideas to support teacher wellbeing ahead of World Mental Health Day…
Children’s Understanding of Resilience
“Why do we stop in the middle, if our intention at the start is to finish?” (Year 5 Child) Have you ever started something and then given up? What was your reason for not finishing?...
The Together Programme and PACE
Over twenty years ago, Dr Dan Hughes developed the PACE approach as a central part of attachment-focused family therapy. PACE stands for Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy, and supports adults to build safe, trusting and meaningful relationships with children and young people who have experienced trauma....
stormbreak essential for teachers toolbox
Ryders Hayes Primary School came on board our stormbreak ‘Surge’ training in 2022 and hopped, skipped and ran with it. The success of stormbreak...
Find your Move this Mental Health Week
It is well established that moving plays an instrumental role in supporting our mental health. At stormbreak we purposefully and intentionally use movement to help children develop strategies to navigate the complexities of modern life...
Navigating the Transition: A Trauma-Informed Approach from Primary to Secondary Schools
Future Action and stormbreak CIO have a shared goal. To make a difference in the lives of children and young people, through better mental health and emotional wellbeing. More than ever, schools are having to respond to a growing crisis in mental health...
How being a stormbreak Champion helped me
I first started volunteering with stormbreak during my bronze DofE award. During this time, I volunteered as a stormbreak champion. After learning about stormbreak and their approach, I worked with the team to write some of my own stormbreaks and I filmed some aimed at primary school age but also a few for the transition between primary and secondary school...
The Healing Power of Reading: How Books Boost Mental Health
On the 23rd April 1995 UNESCO launched World Book Day as a worldwide celebration of books and reading. Nearly 30 years later World Book Day is now celebrated in over 100 countries around the globe encouraging young people to discover the pleasure of reading...
Our Theoretical Model
Having credible evidence to support the work we do is a priority for us at stormbreak. We achieve this in many ways including collecting insight from the professionals and young people we work with, engaging in current research and thinking, evaluation of our programmes and gathering data on scale and impact...
The resilient tree
When we are resilient, we keep going when things are tricky, and we don’t give up. But it’s not easy to be resilient all the time. When we find it hard to keep going, we can think about trees swaying in the wind. When the wind blows, trees bend, they don’t break. This is because of the deep roots that hold them steady and keep them anchored to the ground...
Hope and Optimism
As I write, it is a cold, grey, mid-January kind of day. The glow and excitement about the New Year has faded. Last week started with Blue Monday and for many it didn't get much brighter! Storms are raging outside and Hope and Optimism...
Connect with stormbreak for Children's Mental Health Week
The theme for Children’s Mental Health Week 2023, 6th-11th February, is “Let’s Connect.” From the point of birth, humans are dependent on connections with others...
The Funding Network: Festive event 2022
Following a round of successful pitching and interviews in the autumn, stormbreak was invited to take part in The Funding Network’s 2022 festive event on Thursday 8th December...
Moodboosters
stormbreak are proud to have recently worked with BBC Education and BBC Children in Need to develop resources for the BBC Moodbooster initative...
stormbreak trustee invitiation
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a new Board Trustee with stormbreak CIO, a registered charity in England and Wales (No 1182771) that aims to improve children’s mental health through movement...
Read more... (pdf)
Supporting grief and loss with young children with stormbreak
At this time of national mourning and sadness, it can be a challenging time for young children to make sense of feelings of loss, grief, sadness and change.
Schools dashboard 2022-2023
It's time to set up your new stormbreak dashboard for 2022-2023. Follow our step by step guide here, and please contact darryl@stormbreak.org.uk with any queries.
Read more... (pdf)
The impact of stormbreak at Ryders Hayes school
How do you go from Surge to 100 stormbreaks in just three months? Stormbreak advocate Marcos Rylance shares his thoughts with us....
Poole Primary school first to deliver 1000 stormbreaks to children
A primary school in Poole, Dorset, is the first to deliver over 1000 mentally healthy movement activity sessions...
stormbreak trustee invitiation
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a new Board Trustee with stormbreak CIO, a registered charity in England and Wales (No 1182771) that aims to improve children’s mental health through movement...
Read more... (pdf)
Stormbreak Together, the story so far
While the reach of stormbreak is mostly seen in schools to date, behind the scenes, a small dedicated team has been working on launching and embedding stormbreak...
stormbreak concept Relationships
This is another of our special focus blogs on our mental health concepts and in particular for this feature, the concept of Relationships...
World Mental Health Day 2021
Sunday 10th October is World Mental Health Day and the theme for this year is ‘Mental Health in an Unequal World’, highlighting the fact...
PE and sport premium 2021
stormbreak at school. Sign up for Surge. Recruiting NOW for October 2021! The DfE have now confirmed that the PE and sport premium funding will continue in 2021-22...
How to take part in the stormbreak summer challenge
Taking part in the stormbreak summer challenge is easy...
How to guide: stormbreak website dashboard for schools
Welcome to your stormbreak dashboard how to guide!
We are delighted to be able to share with you our exciting new stormbreak school dashboard...
Read more... (pdf)
Riding the waves of uncertainty with stormbreak
Five ways to support children’s mental and physical health as they manage the uncertainty of being at home during lockdown, returning to school, missing friends and family and reconnecting with each other...
School Leadership Focus: how stormbreak supports RSE and Health Education curriculum.
Next available training April 2021 - Recruiting NOW!
Are you wondering how stormbreak fits in with the RSE and health education curriculum? Read on...
School Leadership Focus: How stormbreak hits 8 principles for promoting emotional health and wellbeing in schools.
Next available training April 2021 - Recruiting NOW!
In March 2015 the government published Public Health England’s guidance for headteachers on the 8 principles for promoting emotional health and wellbeing in schools...
Children’s Mental Health Week - 1st-7th February 2021
stormbreak support children’s mental health week and Place2Be!
Can you (or can you help a child you live with, work with, care for) do a...
stormbreak pathway
Help support children’s mental health through movement.
Take part by clicking the icon next each stormbreak on the pathway or choose your own stormbreaks to do...
Read more... (pdf)
stormbreak@home
An approach for schools, families, parents, carers and children in response to COVID-19...
Read more... (pdf)
Mentally healthy movement with Stormbreak at Christmas
It’s the time of year for creating memories and sharing joy together with our friends and families and those we care about. Celebrating Christmas is about the connections we have, the fun, the laughter, the giving, sharing and kindness that enables us to feel special...
PE and sport premium
Stormbreak at school. Sign up for Surge. Next Phase Starts January 2021 - Recruiting NOW! Wondering whether to spend your PE and sport premium funding on working more closely with stormbreak?...
stormbreak impact report
This report introduces stormbreak and shares emergent insight from our work in schools to date...
stormbreak concept Resilience
This is another of our special focus blogs on our mental health concepts and in particular for this feature, the concept of Resilience....
Lockdown mentally healthy movement with stormbreak
Five ways to support children’s mental and physical health in lockdown.
We know another lockdown isn’t easy for any of us and can be especially hard for children.
At stormbreak we believe that when children move we can help them...
stormbreak concept Hope and Optimism
Welcome to our special Stormbreak feature Blogs on our Mental Health concepts. This Blog is about the Concept of Hope and Optimism and helps us to celebrate life now and in the future...
Play, Move, Mental health and stormbreak!
At stormbreak we believe that children who are encouraged, supported and enabled...
stormbreak concept Self Worth
Have you ever really thought about the value of you? How special you are and why you matter?...
stormbreak concept Self Care
Welcome to our special focus on our mental health concepts and in particular for this feature, the concept of Self care...
How to take part in the stormbreak schools challenge
What is the stormbreak school challenge? Watch and take part...
How to take part in the stormbreak summer challenge
Taking part in the stormbreak summer challenge is easy...
Welcome to stormbreak! It’s great you’re here
Our mission at stormbreak is to embed mentally healthy movement for every child, every day...