Mental Health. Wellbeing. Personal Development. Inclusion. Belonging. Togetherness.
All of the above intertwine within our school and community culture in supporting our children (and staff and parents) to be mentally well.
It stems from the sense of belonging and knowing what it means to be a member of a caring school community that grows together and empowers one another to be more, through living by our values of kindness, pride and happiness, respect, responsibility and resilience.
It lives within our school policies and curriculum, particularly our Relational Behaviour and Regulation Policy, and is driven by our SLT, our Senior Mental Health Lead, Mrs Billingsley, our SENDCo, Mrs Helyar, all of our staff, and our governing body.
All of our staff have been trained in understanding the varying and complex needs of our children and are attachment-aware and trauma-informed, utilising the PLACE approach (where we show playfulness, love, acceptance, curiosity and empathy in supporting our children with their relationships and feelings and helping them to be ready to learn with a positive mindset) and emotion coaching that is embedded into policy, but more importantly into our culture and the way we support our children’s social, emotional and mental health needs, and the challenges that they may face with their behaviour because of these needs.
We have a ‘Behaviour Curriculum’ rooted in our school value of ‘Respect’, so that our children can further understand the importance of self-regulation and readiness for learning.
Crucially, we have been doing increasingly important work on developing our self-awareness, enhancing our understanding of ourselves, celebrating our unique strengths and challenges, and what we can do to for ourselves and each other in order to be mentally well and more capable of a resilient and connected mindset. Take a look at our ‘Self-Awareness Curriculum’ and ‘Me-Maps’ for more information on this (INSERT LINK).
Of course, this sits alongside strategies such as sensory circuits, regulation stations, me-minutes, all of which help our children to be more independent in manging their needs and their emotions. Our school is comprised of a diverse range of needs, within neurotypical and neurodivergent brain types, leading to all manner of behaviours that may seem different and even frightening to some. But our children have become increasingly empathic and understanding of need within our setting and society in general, and understand that sometimes people might exhibit certain behaviours because perhaps their brain works a little differently, or they have experienced things that lead to such behaviours. We all have our own stories, our own ‘me-maps’ and, because of this, our own mental health and wellbeing challenges.
Holistic school culture leads on positive mental health and wellbeing. But sometimes, additional targeted support is required. We work with families before offering support in working with CAMHS, Thrive, SENAS, the EP service and The Curiosity Project, as well as other external mental health agencies. Within school, we have an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA), who staff or parents can refer children to, to support them with their anxieties and the many worries that they may have, as well as four qualified Drawing and Talking Therapists. We have an ‘Inclusion Practitioner’, who supports with SEMH and EBSNA intervention including energy accounting, interoception, and mindfulness; a Thrive Apprentice, as well a Play Therapist who works with some of our children whose behaviour calls for more expert support.
An unexhaustive list of targeted support intervention can be found at INCLUSION: BIDE (Belonging, Inclusion, Diversity and Equality and Equity), Self-Awareness and Connection | Urmston Primary School.
Importantly, we have close links with Early Help hub workers, we work with Trafford Team Together in support of families and to signpost support, and regularly provide information to our parents on what the local Early Help offer has to support where needed.
Alongside parent workshops, delivered by SENAS, Child and Family Therapist, Megan Pitts, and Katy Beetham and ‘The Curiosity Project’, we also hold termly BIDE and Wellbeing forums and drop ins for our parents, with the aim to ensure we maintain a communicative and collaborative school community that supports our children and their families and helps to nurture resilience.
Furthermore, if you'd like support regarding your child managing their emotions, Childline's Calmzone website has some excellent ideas and resources. The link is here: https://www.childline.org.uk/
We hold wellbeing forums every term where staff, parents and governors are invited and this provides us with an opportunity to reflect on our practice and how we can maintain and improve our culture of happy children and happy staff.
