Wellbeing
Intent
The Department for Education recognises that: “in order to help their pupils succeed, schools have a role to play in supporting them to be resilient and mentally healthy”.
At Lynch Hill Primary, we believe that the children’s wellbeing is crucial for their physical and emotional health and with the right levels of support in order to thrive, children can be ready to learn in our school. Our intent is for well thought out systems and strategies to be in place to ensure that when challenging times arise, children are healthy and resilient and can be directed to extra support if and when needed. At Lynch Hill we make great efforts to foster a culture of happiness and wellness, and are totally committed to ensuring pupils stay happy and well, as this will lead to them gaining the best possible education for themselves.
It is vital that staff members take the time to listen and learn about our children’s experiences to ensure the correct support is in place for each child to suit their individual needs. Every child is different and so we will use a range of resources to provide maximum benefit. As a school, we also aim to support pupils to rebuild relationships and re-learn how to interact, along with building and developing new relationships with others. This will include sharing, turn taking, greeting and interacting with others positively, playing alongside and with peers, responding to familiar and new adults and seeking adults for help, support and comfort. We will strive to support pupils to understand their emotions and feelings and help them to begin to process the experiences they have had. We will support pupils to engage with self-regulation strategies and tools which help them to feel safe and calm.
Our curriculum nurtures and prepares children educationally, socially, morally and physically for their continuing learning journey, where doors will be opened rather than closed to future success. We aim to do the following:
· To teach from a well-planned curriculum which will make sure that there are no ‘gaps’ in children’s learning because of the closing of schools.
· To teach from a well-planned curriculum which is tailored to the needs of our children. Learning itself provides security for many children.
· We intend to support pupils to have moments where they experience success and can engage in moments of enjoyment and achievement.
Implementation
We provide excellent pastoral support for pupils through well-trained staff providing access to ELSA sessions, Mental health first aiders, and other therapies and counselling, including bereavement support and partnership work with Daisy’s Dream and Thames Hospice.
As a school, we actively use Jigsaw to support the effective delivery of PSHE and also make full use of the Jigsaw Resilience and Engagement Scale and Toolkit (REST) as it offers an effective screening and measurement tool to determine children’s levels of resilience and emotional well-being. R.E.S.T. also suggests interventions to develop each of the 10 resilience-building descriptors and these interventions are used with identified pupils.
At Lynch Hill, we are proud to be a PiXL school. PiXL Wellbeing has been developed to support young people to take responsibility for their health and wellbeing. Exciting resources educate, inspire and empower young people to look after their wellbeing and lead a healthy, active lifestyle.
We promote physical activity and a healthy lifestyle through our Active Movement programme and children are given many opportunities to participate in a wide range of activity clubs before and after school. Learning walks show that active teaching is present in all lessons, with children active in lessons within the classroom as well as outdoors. We recognise that maintaining good levels of physical activity throughout the day, helps wellbeing and good mental health.
In addition, our children are actively taught about risk online and to recognise the dangers of inappropriate use of technology and social media so that they are fully equipped to make the right decisions to help safeguard their wellbeing.
There is a constant wellbeing focus achieved by ensuring there is a wellbeing thread woven through each and every subject. Our PSHE lessons, supported by the Jigsaw PSHE programme, effectively respond to children’s needs. Activities offered across all areas of the curriculum provide numerous speaking and listening opportunities in order for pupils to be able to express thoughts, feelings and opinions and understand differing viewpoints.
Impact
If we have got the Intent and Implementation right then we will be able to celebrate the following:
· Wellbeing – a mentally healthy school where children feel safe, happy, resilient and ready to learn.
· Routines – children who feel confident and secure within school, knowing that the set routines provide comfort so that children feel reassured and ready for every challenge.
· Curriculum – children who are engaged, enthusiastic learners who aim high, work hard and care deeply about reaching their full potential.
If you’re looking for good resources to support this…
https://www.childline.org.uk/toolbox/calm-zone/
https://www.mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/resources/
https://www.place2be.org.uk/our-services/parents-and-carers/supporting-your-childs-mental-health/
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/for-children-and-young-people/
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/children-young-people-and-families
Remember if you need someone to talk to immediately then you can call Childline on 0800 1111 or Samaritans on 116123