CHILDREN at a Holywell primary school joined the nation in raising awareness of mental health by coming to school in bright yellow clothes.

Pupils and staff at St Winefride's Catholic Primary School, were invited to wear the colour associated with the charity YoungMinds and their Hello Yellow campaign to support children and young people's mental health on World Mental Health Day.

Sian Jones-Evans, headteacher, spoke about how the school is working to make positive mental health a priority.

She said: "We wanted to join in and help raise awareness really, that is what is important for the children and us as a school. We want to show what positive mental health looks like and, more importantly, what the children can do to help themselves and others around them to look after our mental wellbeing together."

The school made use of resources by YoungMinds to promote positive mental health in the children themselves as well as having an understanding about caring for the wellbeing of those around them.

Classes were given the opportunity to create a yellow-themed superhero with a power relating to positive mental health, such as the world's best listener, being the most amazing friend or having the power to show every young person in the world that they are not alone.

Children also had fun photo booth props to make and shared yellow themed jokes to make each other smile.

Another way to get children discussing the topic of mental health was a bright yellow box that Miss Jones-Evans said would play a key role in opening a dialogue about mental health amongst the children.

She said: "After we have done our main assembly, the children will be invited to put ideas into the box of something they can do to either look after themselves to have a positive mind, or what they can do to help someone else."

The school have said they will be donating to YoungMinds on behalf of the children.

YoungMinds say mental health is a big issue for young people, with one in eight children having a diagnosable mental health disorder according to NHS data - which equates to roughly three children per classroom.

Tom Madders, campaigns director at YoungMinds, said: "Young people growing up today face a huge range of pressures, including school stress, bullying and pressures around body image, as well as feeling the need to live the 'perfect' life, which is made more intense by the rise of social media.

"We know many young people find it hard to open up about something that they are going through but often talking to someone they trust is the first step to getting the help they need. Each year, we use #HelloYellow to spread the message that it's okay to talk about how you're feeling but this year we want to go further by giving practical advice to the people around a young person on how to be a good listener.

"#HelloYellow also raises vital funds for YoungMinds' campaigning work so that we can continue to fight for improvements in the mental health support available for young people when they do reach out."