In September 2023, The Wren launched the Wellness Room, as a surprise to staff on their return to work following the summer break. The Staff Room was looking tired and slowly filling up with more and more workspaces. Half the room was taken up by hot desks and the standard school seating set out in a large circle. The Wellbeing Committee investigated what wellness looked like for staff and started to plan a room with a difference. Luckily the school had received funds from the ONS (Office for National Statistics) for extra testing during the pandemic which was designated for staff wellness.

The result is a wellness room, which is a work free environment accessible before, during and after the school day where staff can visit if feeling anxious, experiencing peri-menopausal symptoms or to take time out to tend to their own personal health needs. The Wellness Room has been designed to provide maximum relaxation by offering different seating options in a natural environment filled with light. Whether staff prefer the soft velour comfort of a sofa, the hug of a high back chair or squishing themselves into a beanbag, the options are there!

Two respite zones are also available for when colleagues just need time alone. The zones offer a reclining lounge chair to put the feet up, and offers massage seats, air conditioning units and SAD lamps whilst screened from the wider room by a hand-woven rattan partition. In the wicker baskets around the room there are mindful colouring accessories, relaxation and mindfulness books whilst fresh, chilled water and a fruit basket supports staff personal health. The Wren’s centre piece of the Wellness Room has to be the “Yinshi Meditation Pod”.

This is: 

✓ Designed to improve workplace mental health and employee wellbeing

✓ Provides a mental nudge to help teams adopt a more regular self-care

✓ Made with calming natural materials

✓ Sound proofed to provide a quieter, tranquil space

✓ Wheelchair accessible

Staff feedback to this space, as one can imagine, has been extremely positive:

“It’s a warm and welcoming place where staff can relax and unwind” Helen McLuckie

“We use this room every day. It offers a good place to escape the hustle and bustle of the day!” Callum Turner

“It’s a warm and welcoming place to make everyone comfortable and definitely a stress buster!” Isha Kapila

As part of the school’s offer to staff wellness it has also recently facilitated information sessions on Menopause and Sleep and Stress, as well as a relaxation session with guided meditation and sound immersion, held in its gorgeous Roundhouse and on-site flu vaccinations.