To mark World Mental Health Day on 10th October 2025, schools across Gibraltar came together for the 4th Gibraltar Schools Mental Health Festival, sponsored and supported by GibSams – a three-day celebration of creativity, movement, and reflection around the theme: “Positive Mental Health: What Makes You Happy?”

Running from 8th to 10th October 2025, the festival united schools across Gibraltar under the uplifting theme, “Positive Mental Health: What Makes You Happy?” Through movement, music, and artistic expression, children and adults alike explored how creativity and activity can help strengthen wellbeing and build resilience.

Dance, Emotion, and Connection
Headlining this year’s festival were Project OK, a UK-based community engagement company that uses movement, creativity and performance to promote mental health awareness.

Their visit began at Bayside School, where Year 8 pupils were treated to two powerful dance performances by professional dancers Alexis Garner and Stephanie Townsend, exploring emotions through movement. A lively Q&A session followed, inviting pupils to reflect on how dance can communicate feelings and encourage connection.

Kate Taylor, the creator of Project OK, said:
“What remarkable children, young people and country. Myself and lead artists, Steph Townsend and Lexy Garner, were so impressed by the level of engagement, participation, awareness of emotion and questioning. We witnessed such a positive response towards addressing the importance of mental health through movement. Literally blown away by the level of investment in relation to time, openness, creativity and energy from everyone involved, and we could already sense the ripple effect of our work. Thank you for inviting us over.”

A-Level students later took part in a choreography and repertoire workshop on expressing emotions through movement, while school staff attended a professional wellbeing session at Westside School, learning strategies for incorporating physical activity into lessons and supporting their own self-care.

In the evening, parents and invited guests gathered at Bayside for “Emotional Wellbeing: Keeping Mentally Strong for Our Children and the Power of Movement”, an interactive session exploring how physical expression can foster emotional strength and family connection.

Spreading Positivity Across Primary Schools
On Thursday and Friday, Project OK brought their joyful approach to younger pupils, visiting Loreto Convent, St Anne’s Upper Primary, and St Mary’s Lower Primary Schools. Children enthusiastically joined dance and creative movement workshops, expressing what makes them happy through action and imagination.

“The children loved expressing what makes them happy through dance,” said Mrs Sanguinetti. “These activities helped even the youngest pupils understand that their emotions matter.”

At Notre Dame Lower Primary, local musicians Lorraine and Manuel Enriles added a musical note to the celebrations. Manuel performed on the bagpipes, explaining that “making music is what makes me happy,” while Lorraine led creative workshops encouraging Year 2 pupils to discover their own sources of happiness.

Across Gibraltar, schools found imaginative ways to interpret the “What Makes You Happy?” theme. Governor’s Meadow Lower Primary hosted sensory and creative sessions – from messy play and forest fun to dance parties and breathing exercises – while St Paul’s Lower Primary focused on kindness and self-care with Happiness Jars and themed assemblies.

At St Joseph’s Upper Primary, daily wellbeing sessions and Youth Service talks helped pupils explore positivity, and young people at Bayside School created displays and reflections on what happiness means to them.

Youth Voices and Community Collaboration
The Youth.gi team joined the festival with visits to Gibraltar College and St Bernard’s Upper Primary, holding open discussions about happiness, wellbeing, and the value of youth participation in maintaining positive mental health.

“This festival reminds us that mental health is everyone’s business,” said Education Adviser Jackie Linares. “Thanks to GibSams, it’s now a key date in our school calendar, helping us keep the momentum going and ensuring wellbeing stays high on our agenda.”

Workshops for Parents: Supporting Children in a Digital Age
Adding another layer to the week’s events, parenting expert and author Sue Atkins delivered two well-attended sessions focused on supporting children’s mental health in the digital era.

Speaking at the Calpe Rowing Club, Sue Atkins explored the topic of “Raising Happy, Healthy Children in a Digital World,” emphasising the importance of human connection and early childhood development. She offered practical, research-informed strategies to encourage parents to ‘pause to ponder’ and critically evaluate their children’s screen use, embracing the value of making small but meaningful changes to family routines that help nurture children’s social, emotional, and physical skills, and foster strong offline relationships.

Director of Education Keri Scott, who attended the talk, reflected on how the research findings Sue shared closely mirrored the experiences of staff in Gibraltar’s Lower Primary schools:
“We are finding that there are increasing numbers of children who have not yet reached the developmental milestones we would previously have expected prior to starting their school journey. Our schools are adapting to this trend by prioritising the development of core physical, social, emotional, and communication skills, which we recognise are essential foundations without which future learning cannot thrive.”

Later that evening, Sue presented “The Top 5 Digital Challenges for Parents – and How to Solve Them” at Bayside School, helping families navigate the complexities of raising digitally confident and emotionally secure children. Her empowering ethos encouraged parents to lead with curiosity and openness – engaging in exploratory dialogue with their teens about delicate topics, co-creating paths to meaningful decisions that support human interconnection and real-world engagement.

She emphasised the adoption of small, purposeful changes – one week at a time – as a sustainable route to lasting shifts in how families live, relate, and grow together.

Her message resonated deeply with this year’s Schools Mental Health Festival theme, providing valuable points of reflection and practical strategies that reinforced the Department of Education’s ongoing commitment to actively supporting Positive Mental Health.

The workshops and presentations delivered to children, staff, and families throughout this year’s Festival will continue to inspire our schools’ collective dedication to nurturing emotional wellbeing, connection, and happiness across the learning community. The Festival helped to remind all participants that happiness, creativity, and movement are powerful tools in supporting mental health for people of all ages.

Minister for Education, the Hon John Cortes, said:
“The Schools Mental Health Festival has become a key element in our strategy to focus on the wellbeing of pupils, staff and parents. It aims to provide input from experts, to encourage discussion and to generally support positive mental health in everyone involved in Education. This is key to the success of our young people, and important in supporting our staff. Life today is full of pressures and stresses, and we must do all we can to help our community deal with these positively. Mental Health is so important.”

ENDS