Mental Health and Wellbeing
As a school, we take mental health and wellbeing very seriously. We are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our pupils, staff and school community. We know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support. We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play.
A child's mental health and wellbeing is as important as their physical health and we promote its importance within our curriculum and through support we offer our children.
We promote and support children’s positive mental health by offering information and advice for our parents and our pupils, signposts to further specialist agencies and some suggestions for activities which develop emotional literacy, with a strong focus on social and emotional aspects of learning. These include self-awareness, managing feelings, motivation, empathy and social skills.
We look at building resilience and critical thinking and discuss issues such as social media representation and how we deal with the stresses of modern day life.
We are fortunate to have a counselling service via Time for You and our counsellor, Elizabeth, sees children each Tuesday and Thursday in school.
Worry Boxes
Everyday life can sometimes be tricky, and it can make children feel sad, lonely, worried, nervous, angry plus many other emotions. Whilst these are 'normal' and part of what makes us human, they can leave children feeling deregulated and unsure of how to express their feelings — sometimes they don't have the words. Often we may see a resulting behaviour which gives an outward clue that a child may need some help.
To support children in managing their feelings, each class has a box to post their worry into. They can simply post their name into the box on a post-it note. The child will then be offered some time to talk away from other children.
Mental Health Support
Please see below information from Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT). They have developed a 24 hour 7 day a week telephone Advice Helpline run by qualified mental health clinicians to be there for you to contact should you need any support during the difficult times we are facing due to the Covid 19 situation.
The Department for Education has a list of resources to help with Primary aged children’s mental health and wellbeing, which may be of use to some families.
Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families
Website: https://www.annafreud.org/coronavirus-support/
Key stages: early years foundation stage to key stage 2
Description: wellbeing advice for all those supporting children and young people.
British Psychological Society (BPS)
Key stages: early years foundation stage to key stage 2
Description: advice on dealing with school closures and talking to children about COVID-19.
Children’s Commissioner
Website: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/
Key stages: early years foundation stage to key stage 2
Description: a downloadable guide for children about coronavirus.
MindEd
Website: https://www.minded.org.uk/
Key stages: early years foundation stage to key stage 2
Description: an educational resource for all adults on children and young people’s mental health.
The Child Bereavement Network
Website: https://childhoodbereavementnetwork.org.uk/
Key stages: early years foundation stage to key stage 2
Description: advice on supporting grieving children during the coronavirus outbreak.