Wellbeing
Mental Health & Wellbeing is a high priority for pupils and staff at Sutton Road Primary School and the Senior Leadership Team leads this.
| Responsibility | Staff Members |
|---|---|
| Designated Safeguarding Leads |
|
| Inclusion Team |
|
| PSHE Coordinators |
|
| Mental Health First Aiders |
|
Meet our Mental Health First Aiders
I am Mrs Darwood-Brown and I’m the Pastoral Support Officer at Sutton Road Primary School. I am also one of the school's Mental Health First Aider.
To me, well-being is all about being happy and healthy and not letting my surroundings and the people around me have a negative effect on that. A person’s well-being, whether that is their emotional or physical well-being is extremely important and should be considered without question. It is about wanting to thrive and to not just exist. If a person is aware of what effects their well-being, they can put strategies in place to ensure they can deal with life’s challenges and so have a happier, healthier, more fulfilled life.
Hi, I am Miss Beecroft and I am a Teaching Assistant in year 4.
I have completed Mental Health First Aid courses for both adults and children. My role within school is to build positive relationships, encourage good physical health, develop coping strategies and resilience and create an environment that promotes well-being.
I wanted to become a Mental Health First Aider to help and support those I work closely with. I hope to achieve this by raising awareness and offering support to anyone who needs it by listening to the individual and suggesting activities or strategies to promote well-being.
Well-being to me means being happy and healthy.
I feel mental health is as important as physical health, especially at the moment with all the challenges that we are having to cope with. Now, more than ever, it is important to keep talking and looking out for one another.
How do we promote positive mental health at Sutton Road?
At our school, we aim to promote positive mental health for every member of our staff and for every child. We pursue this aim using both universal, whole school approaches and specialised, targeted approaches aimed at vulnerable pupils and support for staff.
In addition to promoting positive mental health, we aim to recognise and respond to mental ill-health. In an average classroom, three children will be suffering from a diagnosable mental health issue. By developing and implementing practical, relevant and effective mental health policies and procedures we can promote a safe and stable environment for pupils affected both directly, and indirectly by mental ill-health.
Staff are trained in delivering specific interventions with children. Teaching Assistants are trained in interventions including ELSA, Lego Therapy, Talk & Draw, Emotional toolkit, anger management resources including the Incredible 5 point scale and de-escalation strategies from Coping with Risky Behaviours (CRB) training, Queen Bees and Wannabees intervention and Positive Play. These are delivered with either individuals or groups of children.
The skills, knowledge and understanding needed by our pupils to keep themselves and others physically and mentally healthy and safe are included as part of our developmental PSHE curriculum. This also links to our whole school values and activities such as Talking Points. This approach helps to teach children about life skills including how to manage their own emotions so that they are skilled in articulating how they feel in situations.
All classes practise Take Five practices which focus on grounding and resilience.
Useful Weblinks
MINDFULNESS
Downtime is really important to support your mental health.
Get Active
- Joe Wicks' Daily Youtube Live Stream Workout at 9am
- Cosmic Kids have lots of Yoga videos designed for children on their Youtube Channel
- Our children love Go Noodle they have videos on their Youtube and their website
- BBC Supermovers have loads of fun and active videos on their page
- The NHS has teamed up with Disney to produce some 10 minute Wake and Shake videos
- Typing in 'Just Dance' into Youtube brings up a lot of dancing videos you can follow along with!
- Play Keepie-uppies in your garden
- Have a dance party
Get Creative
- Rob Biddulph - an author and illustrator - has created some draw-a-long videos
- Get building with this 30-day Lego challenge
- Create some artwork using recycled materials
- Cbeebies Creative Play
- There are hundreds of craft ideas here
- Bake!
- Create music: make one of these DIY instruments; use Go Kid Music; listen to Kids Music - you could even have a festival at home
Get Exploring
- Explore some of these at-home Science activities: Cbeebies Science,
- Look around your garden. What animals and plants can you see there?
- Do some gardening.
- Hold a household Treasure Hunt
- Go on a virtual museum tour: British Museum, The Natural History Museum, RAF Museum, The Louvre, NASA, Buckingham Palace
- Go on a virtual Zoo Trip: Atlanta Zoo 'Panda Cam', Houston Zoo, Georgia Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium,
- Walk around a virtual Art Gallery: Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum, National Gallery
Get Reading
- Build a reading den!
- Listen to some free audiobooks on Audible Stories
- Check out the 100s of free ebooks on Oxford Owl, Kitaboo and Getpic
- Cbeebies do a daily bedtime story
Get Calm
- Try some positive brain training
- Try some Meditation
- Follow Cbeebies' Get Calm methods
- Try some star breathing
- Think about what makes you feel all warm like a mug of hot chocolate! Draw and decorate a mug.
- Make a calming flipbook
- Supporting your child's mental wellbeing
- Relaxation for children
Get Imaginative
- Set up your own role-play area, den or fort
- Create an 'at-home' shop - take turns running it
