Focusing on wellness in the workplace can:

• Increase productivity
• Reduce burnout 
• Reduce staff turnover
• Improve morale
• Decrease the stress of staff
• Create a positive environment

Neglecting the mental and physical health of your staff can lead to burning out, which can have serious implications. For teachers especially, burnout can result in becoming detached from their roles, which will not only affect them personally but also their colleagues and their students. In fact, 60% of employees say they’d feel more motivated at work if their employer actively supported mental well-being. 

We’ll highlight a few ways schools can better support their staff when it comes to their personal wellness. 

Start with School Culture 

Your school’s culture will have a huge bearing on the well-being of your staff members. For instance, are you actively promoting open communication around topics like mental health and burnout, or are they being suppressed and avoided? Ensuring your staff feels comfortable to freely talk about their stresses in or out of the workplace is a crucial step in encouraging wellness, as they’ll feel more supported. Their experiences could even help fellow employees. 

Another way of improving culture to better promote wellness in the workplace is to set and stick to clear and attainable goals that can help give staff clarity over their job roles. Ensuring that staff has a clear understanding of your expectations can help to stave off workplace burnout, which can ultimately improve both worker wellbeing and performance. 

Provide Relevant resources 

There are so many resources available to help individuals to look after their personal wellbeing. As well as pointing your staff in the right direction when it comes to looking for appropriate resources, you should also make these available within the workplace. 

For example, Wellness Action Plans (WAPs) are designed to support individuals’ mental well-being, regardless of whether or not they’re struggling with a mental health condition. Employers can use WAPs to support their staff members, and they can be worked through either collaboratively or individually by employees. The CDC has strategies schools can use to create an employee wellness program.

Encourage Team Morale 

Happy employees are more likely to be productive employees, so focusing on boosting morale should be high on your list of priorities. In the classroom and in your schools, it’s crucial to celebrate any team wins, and take a moment to acknowledge the work that’s been done to reach these successes. Staff recognition is crucial in building a more positive work environment, which can ultimately help to improve loyalty and engagement. 

It’s also incumbent upon administration to help their staff to strike a healthy work-life balance. Within the school setting, teachers’ schedules are largely governed by lesson timetables, and lots of their work will often be taken home. But beyond this, you can offer more support by encouraging exercise, and hobbies as well as creating life balance by regularly reviewing workloads. Being able to share workloads and delegate responsibilities between team members can go a long way to helping staff to find a better balance between work and home life.

The more you take of your staff, the more they will engage in their jobs which can only help the children they teach and inspire every day. We all do our jobs better when we are happy, healthy, and feel appreciated.

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SPARKhome Free Lesson Plans

COVID-19 has caused unprecedented times and SPARK is here to help! Create a FREE account at SPARKecademy.org to access 3 weeks of materials (15 per program for Early Childhood, K-2, 3-6, Middle School, High School) to keep students active & healthy. We also encourage parents to create a free account so they can directly access the materials. 

Lesson Previews:

Early Childhood SPARKhome
These SPARK activities encourage kids to be active at home. They help develop basic movement, manipulative, social, and personal skills at an early age. Activities can be done individually, with a sibling, or the entire family.

K-2 & 3-6 SPARKhome
These SPARK activities encourage kids to be active at home. Included are videos, games and movement activities to engage kids in physical activities with their family.

Middle School SPARKhome
The resources provided encourage students to be active at home. Included are fitness cards and videos that can be used to create fitness routines and show proper form and teaching cues.

High School SPARKhome
The resources provided encourage students to be active at home. Exercise information and visuals can be used to create fitness circuits and routines for daily physical activity.

All activities are designed to be done indoors with family members who are known to be healthy. We encourage responsibility – to select activities that are suitable for your family considering all guidelines and recommendations of the CDC. To help determine which activities best meet your needs, use your filter to analyze the activity and consider this qualifier: 1) is it good to go? 2) does it need modification or 3) no way – this activity isn’t going to work for my situation.

Click to Access SPARKhome Programs:

1) Create a FREE account or log in to an existing account 
2) Click the “Course Catalog” dropdown at the top right-hand side of the page and select SPARKhome (Free). 

Please take a look at the video below for a quick walkthrough.

We’re in this together. Thank you for keeping students active & healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Access free SPARKhome materials by following the video above.

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SPARK proudly partnered with with SPARTAN Kids and supportREALteachers.org to create free activity sessions to support student activity at home!

The #BEUNBREAKABLE Challenge features 20 elementary and 20 secondary sessions led by a variety of instructors SHAPE America Teachers of the Year, SPARK Elite Trainers, and Spartan Reps.

These sessions include the SHAPE America National Standards and Grade-Level Outcomes being addressed, as well as a Spartan Kids Code and SPARK healthy message. All activities are designed to be done indoors or outdoors and individually or with a partner or group.

View all #BEUNBREAKABLE Challenge videos on SPARK’s YouTube Video Library!

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SPARKecademy.org is the online professional development resource for K-12 physical educators, elementary classroom teachers, early childhood educators, after school program providers, and school health professionals. 

Access innovative teaching resources through online workshops, tutorials, and free webinars (50+ available). Credits are required for workshops and tutorials. Purchase online training credits here (they never expire) or learn more about SPARKecademy.org.

Our innovative platform makes tracking your professional development a breeze! After you’ve created an account, all of your hours are tracked within the platform, making it easy to share your progress with school administrators. Create your free account today to get started!

Related Webinar Topics:
– Sport Stacking: PE and Beyond
– Quick Start Your PE Classes: ASAP!
– Building a Foundation for quality PE
– Let’s Go Back to School with SPARKecademy!
– KISS- Keep it Simple with SPARK Fun Easy Games for Young Learners to Play

Take your professional development to the next level with SPARKecademy!

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With COVID-19 halting in-person professional development opportunities for educators, SPARK found a way to continue to bring you quality training and content with SPARKecademy LIVE!

Featuring live virtual sessions with a SPARK trainer and online PD courses, SPARKecademy LIVE trainings are a great solution for your school or district. Available for our K-2, 3-6, Middle School, and High School PE programs, as well as After School and Early Childhood.

Contact us today to learn more!

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University educators are eligible to receive 1 year of professor-level access to the SPARKuniversity section on SPARKfamily.org (if requiring or recommending SPARK in your course(s)). Elementary and Secondary options are available.

About SPARKuniversity:
SPARKuniversity is a robust digital library of expert selected content from the popular SPARK K-2 and 3-6 and middle school and high school physical education manuals — and a source of evidence-based learning tools created especially for majors and generalists.

SPARKuniversity includes:

• 50+ SPARK Physical Education activities chosen to align with a variety of course themes.
• Ready-to-use assignments including printable guidelines, rubrics & other tools
• Additional FREE SPARK resources include current industry-specific articles and research, blog, a monthly eNewsletter, webinars, and opportunities to connect with other students through social media.

Learn more about SPARKuniversity.

If interested in 1 free year of professor level access, email SPARK Educational Director, Bryan Hull, at brianhull@sparkpe.org.

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Hearst Foundation – Education Grants

The Hearst Foundations support well-established nonprofit organizations that address important issues within our major areas of interests- education, health, culture, and social service- and that primarily serve large demographic and/or geographic constituencies. Within these areas, the Foundations generally provide endowment, program, and capital grant support. Private nonprofits with significant support from the philanthropic community are favored over those financed through government sources. The Foundations use an open submission process, and proposals are welcomed throughout the year.

View Grant: https://www.hearstfdn.org/funding-priorities/

Daniels Fund

The Daniels Fund is dedicated to funding programs and projects dedicated to improving communities and helping community members to live healthy, productive lives. The Foundation is offering grants to organizations that provide quality youth programs in order to foster increased sportsmanship, confidence, discipline, and teamwork among youths.  The Daniels Fund Grants Program provides grants to nonprofit organizations in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Grant applications are accepted at any time throughout the year.

View Grant: https://www.danielsfund.org/grants/overview

Goizueta Foundation

The Goizueta Foundation provides support for non-profit organizations in Georgia that empower individuals and families through educational opportunities to improve the quality of their lives. Focus areas include Early Childhood Education, Primary & Secondary Education and Youth and Family Development. If you feel your organization is a fit for this funding, complete out the organizational overview on the Foundation website to be invited to apply for a grant.

View Grant: https://www.goizuetafoundation.org/

Costco Charitable Giving

Costco accepts and reviews funding requests throughout the year on a rolling basis, and organizations are eligible to submit one application per fiscal year (Sep-Aug). Focus on supporting children, education, and/or health and human services

View Grant: https://www.costco.com/charitable-giving.html

21st Century Community Learning Centers

This program supports the creation of community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities during non-school hours for children, particularly students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools. The program helps students meet state and local student standards in core academic subjects, such as reading and math; offers students a broad array of enrichment activities that can complement their regular academic programs, including recreation and physical activity; and offers literacy and other educational services to the families of participating children. Awards are made to State Education Agencies (SEAs). Local education agencies (LEAs) and nonprofit organization may apply to states for subgrants.

View Grant: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/index.html

The National Education Association Foundation

Learning & Leadership grants support public school teachers, public education support professionals, and/or faculty and staff in public institutions of higher education to fund participation in high-quality professional development experiences, such as summer institutes or action research. All professional development must improve practice, curriculum, and student achievement.  Apply for funding to attend the SPARK Institutes today!

View Grant: https://www.neafoundation.org/for-educators/learning-and-leadership-grants/

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