At SJS, we are committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our pupils, staff and 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 everyone has mental health, and we have a role to play in supporting this.
At SJS we:
The Importance of Mental Health and Wellbeing:
Recent research by the Department for Education (2020) and The Children’s Society (2020) has shown that 9.1% of 10-17 year olds report being relatively unhappy with their lives, and that this declines as children and young people get older, with wellbeing in this area decreasing since 2009. The Mental Health Foundation has shown that mental health problems affect about 1 in 6 children and young people. Statistics show that 75% of children who experience a mental health problem have not had support at an early age or the opportunity to build and develop their resilience. As a school, we recognise the need to ensure mental health problems are identified early and appropriate support is provided.
Department for Education, 2020. State of the Nation 2020: Children and Young People’s Wellbeing Research Report. DfE: London.
The Children’s Society, 2020. The Good Childhood Report 2020 [online]. The Children’s Society: London. Available via: https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-11/Good-Childhood-Report-2020.pdf [Accessed: 30 July 2021].
Mental Health Foundation, 2021. Mental Health Foundation [online]. Mental Health Foundation: London. Available via: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/c/children-and-young-people [Accessed: 30 July 2021].
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Positive wellbeing is promoted through the curriculum and all school activities. Through a carefully planned approach to PSRHE, supported by our ‘KAPOW’ scheme of work, our pupils are helped to acquire the knowledge and develop the skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy, independent lives, and to become resilient, informed and responsible citizens.
Our teachers also use a range of other resources to support the teaching of positive wellbeing and about mental health.
In addition, whole school approaches such as assemblies and themed weeks/days are used to further develop pupils’ knowledge of strategies. For example, each class has access to meditation relaxation music via youtube, which is used to play relaxing music during lesson and reflection time. Reflection and mindfulness strategies are also a key component within each class, where moments of quiet and reflection are used to support lesson transitions. Each classroom also has a designated relaxing reading corner, offering space for quiet and calm as required.
Whole school events are held and planned/supported by our Pupil Parliament and Take Care Leaders, including Anti-Bullying Week, Rainbow Week and Mental Health Awareness Week. During these events, the focus is on developing resilience and the purpose is to teach our pupils strategies for dealing with anxieties and coping with changes.
As a Take Care school, we greatly value the impact of sport on pupil health and wellbeing and ensure that pupils engage in a wide range of daily physical activity, including encouraging our children to run The Daily Mile.
Support is given to those children who may find transitions between year groups extra challenging, as well as whole school/class transition activities. This also applies to the transition from infant to junior school.
When pupils require addition support for social, emotional and/or mental health, our trained ELSA and Wellbeing Therapeutic teachers provide nurture sessions that are personalised to individual needs. We also have a team of staff who can offer other kinds of wellbeing and mental health support. Please see our ELSA page for more information.
We have a designated nurture and intervention spaces, The ELSA Room, The Hub and The Rainbow Room which contain different resources including books, games, sensory equipment and other items to support wellbeing. We regularly review our resources to ensure that equipment is up-to-date.
Where there is a need for more specialised, targeted approaches that support vulnerable children, the SENCo will make a referral to an outside organisation such as the Mental Health Support Team, School Nurse, CAMHs or Early Help.
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Other useful links to support wellbeing and mental health:
https://www.healthforkids.co.uk/nottinghamshire/
https://actionforhappiness.org/about-us
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent
https://www.annafreud.org/parents/
https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/your-feelings/anxiety-stress-panic/coping-with-stress/
Support for stress and anxiety
Bereavement support