Carly Cross, Ben Neville, Ash Spry-Taylor, Merinda Kennedy and Isabelle Dickson joined 1,500 students from 50 schools around NSW at Sydney Olympic Park to build mental fitness and help-seeking behaviours in an effort to break the Guinness World Record.

The previous record title was set in the United Kingdom in June this year with 857 people in attendance.

Eden High PDHPE teacher Jasmine Lefel acted as chaperone for the group.

“ A powerful section of the lesson was a guided meditation and mindfulness session with 1,500 staff and students in the Quay Centre at Sydney Olympic Park,” she said.

More than 10,000 people including year 9 and 10 students from across the state also participated in an interactive online 40-minute lesson designed to develop resilience in young people. The lesson was taught by staff from Headspace and Kim Harper of the NSW Department of Education.

“It was also an opportunity to raise state-wide and national awareness of mental health through the excitement and competition of a world record challenge,” Ms Lefel said.

“The students participated in a 40 minute interactive mental health lesson developed as part of the new PDHPE syllabus which will be rolled out in 2019.”

In addition to The Largest Mental Health Awareness Lesson, Ms Lefel said the group’s flight to Sydney was very exciting as two of the students had never flown before.

“When we arrived in Sydney we did some sightseeing at Circular Quay including the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and navigated the train system before dinner in China Town,” she said.

“After making new friends along the way, it appears that we also travelled the furthest to attend the fantastic event.”

Students were also interviewed by the Office of the Advocate for Children and Young People on the importance of mental health and help seeking behaviours.