St. Wulstan's Roman Catholic Primary School

Mental Health and Well-Being

Senior Mental Health Lead: Miss Hadfield

Recognising Mental Health in Children, Parent Information Evening, March 2023

Mental Health and Well-Being Newsletter, Summer 2024

Mental Health and Well-Being Newsletter, Spring 2024

Mental Health and Well-Being Newsletter, Autumn 2023

Mental Health and Well-Being Newsletter, Summer 2023

Mental Health and Well-Being Newsletter, Spring 2023

Mental Health and Well-Being Newsletter, Autumn 2022

OUR VISION

Our vision is to develop a school community where children can enjoy a welcoming, secure, happy and healthy environment, where all members can develop their ability to be Ready, Responsible, and Respectful.

At St. Wulstan's, we support the emotional health and wellbeing of our pupils, parents and staff. We have a supportive and caring ethos model of respect and kindness, where each individual is valued.

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.

We promote a mentally healthy environment through:

Promoting our school values and encouraging a sense of belonging
Promoting pupil voice and opportunities to participate in decision-making
Celebrating academic and non-academic achievements
Providing opportunities to develop a sense of worth through taking responsibility for themselves and others
Providing opportunities to reflect
Access to appropriate support that meets their needs

If your child is have issues with their social, emotional or mental health, then they may need support with:

Attendance
Attention and listening skills
Low self-esteem
Managing anger
Forming and maintaining relationships
Depression
Bereavement
Life outside school

Your child may benefit from:

Behaviour support
Health Care Plan
Buddy System
Playground support
Access to quiet areas
Family Support
Pastoral support and guidance from a key member of staff
Lego Therapy
Support from the School Nurse
School-based nurture sessions
Support, advice & training from specialists

POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH

Positive Experiences

St. Wulstan's offers pupils many opportunities to do physical activities as well as opportunities to relax which both are ways to promote wellbeing and positive mental health.

Lunch games to play outside
Library to borrow books to read
Outside reading area
Friendship bench
Active learning
Nurture Provision - The Beehive Room
Home Learning Projects
Themed days
Charity days
Christmas Fayres
Residential visits
Educational day visits
After school clubs

Celebrating Success

We like to celebrate our many successes together by:

Posting celebrations on Twitter and Facebook and in our weekly school newsletters to celebrate what is taking place
Displaying pupil’s work
Celebration Assembly each week
Class Assemblies

TEACHING ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

Curriculum

The school follows the DfE guidelines for the teaching of Mental Health and Wellbeing in the following ways:

Personal, Social, Health Education (PSHE) scheme of work
Come and See, RE Curriculum
Active Learning
Lancashire PE Scheme of Work
Assemblies and theme days

Assessment Process of Pupil Well-being

At St. Wulstan's, we consider Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to identify the need of wellbeing for our pupils. All staff complete termly SDQs and use these to assess how children are feeling and how well they engage with their learning, using a RAG rating system:

RED - these children will be a priority for support and will be discussed in greater depth with the Pastoral Team which may lead to involvement of outside agencies such as the school nurse, Children and Family Well Being, ELCAS, Child Action North West, ADHD NorthWest, Home Start, HARV, further support from within school and discussion with parents or carers if appropriate
AMBER - staff may provide short term intervention within a group for a period of 6 weeks
Green - continue to have quality first teaching of the curriculum described above.

Interventions to support Mental Health and Well-being

Staff from the Nuture and SEND Team co-ordinate interventions for pupils mental health and wellbeing such as:

Drawing and Talking Therapy
Counselling
Mentoring
Self-esteem individual and group activities
Bereavement Counselling
Lego therapy

MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS

For children

We value the support of parents and carers by working in partnership with them to support the children. Any parents with a concern around their child's mental health should contact Miss Hadfield or Wendy Schofield to discuss ways we can work together to support the child.

For parents and carers

Any parents with mental health concerns for themselves are most welcome to discuss this with Miss Hadfield or Wendy Schofield in confidence. They can then signpost to support agencies and offer practical advice in the short term.

For staff

Any member of staff can contact either Miss Hadfield (or any other senior leader within school) for support and signposting. Alternatively, anyone working within schools can contact the Educational Support Partnership on https://www.educationsupport.org.uk

Designated Mental Health Lead

All schools are required to have a Designated Mental Health Lead. Our DMHL is Miss Hadfield. The duties of the Mental Health Lead are to:

oversee the help the school gives to pupils with mental health problems
help staff to spot pupils who show signs of mental health problems
offer advice to staff about mental health
refer children to specialist services

The DMHL role ensures that the safeguarding of children’s emotional wellbeing is a priority and equally as important as protecting their physical health.

PARENT INFORMATION VIDEOS, FROM LANCASHIRE EMOTIONAL HEALTH IN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

We have increased our range of videos on children’s mental health that schools can share with parents and carers. We hope that this will help everyone involved in a child’s life to better understand emotional and mental health, as well as effective and practical ways they can help. We now have four videos available to view: