What a week. Britannica International School Shanghai closed its first Wellbeing Week in exactly the way it deserved: with Friday: Enjoy — Joy, Creativity & Celebration, shared by every student and member of staff across the whole school.
We chose to end on this note deliberately. After a week spent resetting, moving, connecting and thinking hard about the future, students and staff needed a day that was simply about joy — a reminder that wellbeing isn't only about managing difficulty, it's also about celebrating what makes life good.
In Primary
Our younger students' day was all about Joy, Creativity and Celebration — coming together to celebrate each other and feel proud of everything they'd learned about looking after their minds and bodies over the week. Pyjama Day gave the day an instantly joyful, relaxed feel from the moment children arrived, and turned the closing celebration into something they'll remember. The simple act of celebrating one another, rather than individual achievement, reinforced the whole week's message: that looking after yourself and looking after each other go hand in hand.
In Secondary
- The 60-Second Talent Challenge: Students showcased everything from music and dance to Rubik's cube solving, comedy, origami and mental maths, with selected performers taking to the stage for our Friday celebration. It gave students a rare platform to be seen and celebrated for skills that don't always get recognised in the classroom.
- The School Playlist: Students nominated the songs that genuinely make them feel good — across categories like best mood booster, best workout song, best chill song and best singalong. The final list is now officially the school's Wellbeing Week playlist, a lasting, shared artefact of the week.
- A Whole-School Assembly on Wellbeing Techniques: Bringing the week's themes together with practical, shareable strategies for students and staff to carry forward well beyond this week.
Pyjama Day ran across the entire school, primary and secondary alike, and at 14:45 everyone — from our youngest to our oldest — gathered around our foyer's leaf tree for a whole school photo. It was now full, after a week of students and staff answering one simple question: What helps you feel happy?
Over the course of the week, we moved through Reset, Move, Connect, Thrive, and Enjoy — a deliberate journey from recognising stress, to building physical energy, to strengthening friendships, to thinking about purpose, and finally, to celebrating together. Each activity, at every age, was chosen not just to fill the day, but to teach a specific, transferable skill — noticing stress, valuing movement, building connection, thinking long-term, and making space for joy.
The real success of Wellbeing Week wasn't any single activity — it was watching students and staff of every age genuinely engage: the honesty in Monday's conversations, the effort in Tuesday's movement sessions, the new friendships at Wednesday's breakfast and reading time, the maturity and creativity of Thursday's reflections, and the sheer joy of today's celebration.
Thank you to everyone who took part, shared a leaf, wore green, walked and talked, and showed up — in pyjamas and otherwise. Here's to carrying this week's spirit forward all year.
