At Corpus Christi School, we are committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of all our staff and pupils, and the mental health and emotional well-being of our school community remains at the heart of everything that we do.
We recognise that our mental health and well-being can affect how we behave, how we act towards others and how we cope with what is going on around us. We know that life can be challenging at times for everyone and that people may need additional emotional support, developing positive mental well-being can also help us cope with difficult times as they come along.
We endeavour to meet the individual needs of our children and families so they can experience positive mental health and feel happy and safe, and at Corpus Christi, every member of staff is invested in ensuring that our children and parents’ mental health and well-being is a priority. We also have key members of staff, who are responsible for promoting and leading on mental health and well-being.
Our leads for Mental health and well-being are:
- Mrs Y Gamesby (pupils)
- Mrs L Boanas (staff well-being)
- Mrs T Connor and Mrs A. Hurt (parents & families)
‘Mrs A. Hurt (Child and Family welfare Lead) along with Parent Engagement Lead (Mrs T. Connor) play a lead role, to ensure that the safeguarding and mental health and well-being of our children, families and teachers is a priority. Parents are contacted regularly and when a child or family needs additional support or guidance in relation to their mental health and well-being, a bespoke meeting/service is arranged.
We believe that prevention and early intervention is key to improving mental health outcomes and emotional well-being and School has formed effective partnerships with external agencies to support our children and families. Examples of provision allocated may be one-to-one sessions with Schools in MIND, Level 1 CBT, High Level CBT, group counselling, family mediation or ‘friends’ groups.’
To promote social and emotional well-being and to respond to mental health concerns in school we are continuing to adopt a ‘whole school approach’ to Mental health, which ensures that all parts of the school organisation work coherently together. We strive to develop a supportive school and classroom climate and ethos which builds a sense of connectedness, focus and purpose, the acceptance of emotion and vulnerability, warm relationships and the celebration of difference.
Our bespoke PSHE curriculum includes a module: ‘My mental wealth’ and we endeavour to:
- teach our children to recognise that everyone experiences different challenges throughout life that can make us vulnerable and we may need additional support with our emotions, during these times.
- help children recognise and manage their feelings better.
- encourage children to foster and maintain positive relationships
- help children to develop strong emotional resilience to overcome challenging experiences.
Throughout the year, pupils also participate in a range of assemblies and workshops on the theme of mental health and well-being, and the whole school celebrates National Children’s Mental Health week.
Within school, children can access a range of tools and strategies to help them maintain positive mental health and well-being, these include:
Keeping personal reflection diaries, putting notes in the ‘Worries Bag’, and having the opportunity to talk to an adult at any time, in school regarding their concerns and anxieties.
To support School in our delivery of our PSHE curriculum, we have developed a strong partnership with the Headstart team. We are using the Headstart School Standard to ensure that we help our children feel supported and empowered whatever the challenges they face. The Headstart programme sets out the principles, schools need to adopt, to help pupils receive the necessary support they need to help them build the resilience required to achieve good emotional health. Mrs Trish Connor, one of our governors works in close conjunction with the PSHE lead to achieve the Headstart standard and to therefore, improve outcomes for pupils and their families.
CPD regarding mental health and the resilience approach has also been delivered regularly, including ‘well-being’ sessions for staff.
The Headstart team have also provided us with a range of opportunities to promote health and well-being within school, this has included delivering a special programme to KS2 pupils, giving them the tools and expertise they need to be Mental health Headstarters (Leads) As a result of this training we now have a team of Mental health leads, who are championing positive mental health across the school.
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To prepare our year 6 for the transition to secondary school, pupils take part in a project called ‘Smart Moves’. This provides the children with opportunities to discuss scenarios and concerns they may have as they move up to year 7 and it also helps them develop the emotional resilience required to manage the transition.
Supporting Children’s Mental health
A useful collection of resources to help adults support children and young people is available below:
As a parent or carer, if you have any concerns around your child’s emotional well-being and mental health, please speak to either your child’s class teacher or contact Mrs Gamesby or Mrs Hurt via the main office.
