Mental Health Warriors Course
By: Luveena (Year 9)
Last week, on Friday the 27th of February, I and a group of other secondary students had the opportunity to attend a workshop at our school TBS led by a professional therapist and mental health trainer George Peterkin from Dubai. George was visiting to provide teacher training on Mental Health First Aid on Saturday. As a student about to start GCSEs and who is intrigued by human behaviour or psychology, this workshop was especially valuable to me because it helped me understand mental health and feel prepared to help not only ourselves but everyone around us. Since many secondary students are reaching a more sensitive stage in their lives, I felt this session was extremely beneficial for all of us.
George began the day by holding separate engaging assemblies for the primary and secondary students focused on building resilience and mental fitness. Students from Years 13 to Year 8 attended and are now qualified as ‘Mental Health Warriors’.
Throughout the workshop, I noticed how engaged and active everyone was. We were all eager to learn, share, be comfortable and most importantly seemed genuinely happy to be there. The programme focused on teaching us how to support both ourselves and the people around us. We discussed how to respond when someone shares their feelings, what responses may not be helpful, and how we can maintain positive mental health in our everyday lives, including what affects us and what doesn’t.
One student in Year 9 stated, “That seminar was an amazing experience where we were able to learn so much about mental health and I came out with a completely different view around our mental wellbeing. Mr Peterkin was such a wonderful mentor and immediately created a safe space where we were all comfortable to share our thoughts. And contradictory to what I thought in the beginning, I had so much fun!”

I think it is safe to say as a student who loved this opportunity and even earned a health warrior therapist certificate, we owe our greatest gratitude to our visiting mentor Mr. Peterkin and our teachers for organising this wonderful seminar. I would surely do it again if I had a chance to and look forward to putting the learning into action here at TBS.
Flowing Forward Festival Saturday 28th February
By Saanvi, Sizuka and Sanah A in Year 11.
The PLUM flowing forward festival is a student-led organization that promotes menstrual health and hygiene in Nepal. On Saturday the 28th of February, we went to the fourth annual PLUM Flowing Forward Festival that hosted 105 students from 9 schools and organisations from around Kathmandu. We worked together to break down menstrual stigma, encourage open and honest conversations, and build a supportive network among students across different communities. Through 16 interactive workshops, students were given a safe space to learn, share experiences, and ask questions. These sessions helped start important conversations about menstruation and challenged common taboos. As a result, many participants left the workshops feeling more confident, better informed, and inspired to continue spreading awareness.
During the day Saanvi, Sizuka and Sanah also led a collaborative art workshop. This session was designed as an open, welcoming space where participants could freely express themselves through art while connecting with each other. It created a relaxed and supportive environment that encouraged people to work with different individuals, share ideas, and collaborate creatively. Participants were given three different prompts in their groups which centred around themes of empowerment and challenging social taboos. Each group approached the prompts in their own unique way, producing meaningful and diverse pieces of artwork that reflected their perspectives and experiences.

The workshop atmosphere was lively yet calming, allowing everyone to explore creativity without pressure. Many participants shared positive feedback afterwards, describing the session as fun, relaxing and a refreshing break. It was rewarding to see how engaged everyone was and how the activity encouraged open conversations. Along with the participants, we also greatly enjoyed hosting the workshop. It was a valuable and exciting opportunity for us to organise and lead an activity. Shout out to the other Zonta members for their participation: Sanna, Pema, Saugat, Pranita, Guarab, Brishti and Soniva.
The entire festival was a lot of fun and engaging. We participated in three different workshops. They were all very different. Some were student-led, which provided a safe space for us to discuss a variety of topics, such as the different ways that people deal with societal stigmas related to menstruation. Additionally, there were specialist-led workshops where we learnt about various topics depending on the specialist, for example, there were workshops held by OBGYN physicians where we talked about menstruation health. Overall, everyone who attended the festival got a chance to make a lot of friends, had many meaningful conversations, learned a lot, and just had a great time. Thank you to Ms Hall, Ms Middlebrook and Ms Goodey for coming and Ms Idriss for helping organise this and supporting us!
Online University Fair
During online learning on Thursday 5th of March, students were treated to a virtual university fair and talks. The event began with a Q&A Panel Session with Universities from UK, US, Australia & Hong Kong which was very useful for our Year 11s in particular, who are still making choices about which destinations might be appropriate for them. Following this, students attended two expert led talks from a huge variety, including:
- Career Pathways in Art & Media
- Financial Aid in the US
- Student Accommodation in Australia
- Studying in Scotland
- Studying Medicine in the UK
- Applying to UK Universities
- Creative Programs in STEM
- Future of Artificial Intelligence
- Preparing for Written Scholarship Applications
- Student Support at US Universities
- Studying Applied Computer Science in Europe
- Studying Tech & Design in Belgium
We were very grateful to have representatives from universities all over the world, including some of the top global institutions. Here you can find the full list of visiting universities and useful videos introducing them.