Well-being

We all have mental health. Mental health is about our feelings, our thinking, our emotions and our moods. Looking after our mental health is important.

 

Over the course of their education, children spend over 7,800 hours at school.

 

At Tetney Primary School, we know how important well-being is. Within the school day, we ensure we promote good emotional well-being and teach behaviours which promote resilience and build emotional skills and knowledge. Emotional well-being is a clear indicator of academic achievement, success and satisfaction in later life. Evidence shows that mental health and well-being programmes in schools can lead to significant improvements in children’s mental health, and social and emotional skills. Well-being provision in schools can also lead to reductions in classroom misbehaviour and bullying.

To ensure all our pupils are supported with their well-being, we have developed our Well-being Framework; this shows all the activities we do as a school to promote good well-being and support those in need.

Well-being framework

What are we doing in school to support well-being?

 

  • Every morning, your child’s class teacher or teaching assistant will be at the door to welcome them into school. This is to start the day off with a positive, to ensure a sense of belonging and to allow an opportunity for your child to share any news or concerns they may have.
     
  • Once inside the classroom, all children have a feelings “check in” where, using the characters from “Inside Out”, pupils indicate how they are feeling. This ensures pupils are aware of their feelings, and also gives an opportunity for the teaching staff to speak to pupils about their feelings. Pupils are made aware through assemblies that there are no “bad” feelings - all feelings are OK to feel, just sometimes we might need some help managing them! Children who need particular support managing their feelings are given the “5 point incredible scale” and taught how to notice their feelings changing and given strategies to support those more negative feelings.  Some children are also given time out of class to help them manage their feelings; this takes place within our Nest Room, which is stocked with lots of activities (which the children are shown how to use during support sessions from our Emotional Literacy Support Assistant).
     
  • At the end of each day, each class shares their positive reflections on the day. This allows the children to reflect on the day as a whole, taking the positives and having an easier transition back home.
     
  • Every classroom has a visual timetable so children are aware what to expect from their day. They are also prepared as much as possible for any changes to their normal routine.
     
  • If children experience problems through their day, all staff are trained to use restorative questions to support children to understand what has happened, the impacts on their feelings and how to come up with their own solutions to move forward. We have also rolled out this training to our Year 6s, who can also support younger pupils.
5 ways of wellbeing-01
  • Every day pupils are also given 5 well-being breaks using the 5 ways to well-being from the NHS: 
    • Connect – as a school, we access Action for Happiness Calendars. Each day, they have a short activity which allows us to connect as a class and share our thoughts.
    • Be Active – every day, each class goes on a Golden Mile around the school grounds. Children walk 1:1 with the teacher regularly to ensure relationships can be built and any concerns can be shared.
    • Take Notice – as part of our PSHE scheme of work (Jigsaw), children practise mindfulness. This time encourages them to notice how their body feels when it is calm as well as their senses within that moment.
    • Give – children are given the opportunity to give each other Dojo points for kind behaviour.
    • Keep Learning – improving our well-being can help us achieve more and access our learning more effectively.

We also have five members of staff that are fully trained by Restorative Solutions, and we are working towards becoming a fully restorative school.

Support for Children

Website Links

Recognising anxiety in children - https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/joinin/dualwa-anxiety-in-primary-school 
CBeebies link for parents in recognising and dealing with signs of anxiety in their children.

Education Support.org -  https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/helping-you/telephone-support-counselling 
This organisation will provide confidential and emotional support from their helpline counselling team to teachers and educational staff who need support in these uncertain times.

Place2Be – https://www.place2be.org.uk/about-us/news-and-blogs/2020/march/coronavirus-information-for-children/
Guide to helping parents answer questions from their children and to support family wellbeing.

Young Minds - https://youngminds.org.uk/blog/talking-to-your-child-about-coronavirus/
Talking to your child about Coronavirus and 10 tips from their Parents Helpline to support family wellbeing.

For Me - https://www.childline.org.uk/toolbox/for-me/
This app includes all of Childline’s services in an app, with direct 121 access to a counsellor, videos, advice and chat on a range of issues that affect young people. It is safe and discreet and can only be accessed with a pin code. For Me was named and designed to blend in with other apps on your phone. That means that if anyone else sees the screen, they won't realise it's a Childline app. Available on iPhone only but all resources available via the website. 

Chatter Pack - https://chatterpack.net/blogs/blog/list-of-free-speech-language-communication-and-send-resources-for-schools-and-parent-carers?fbclid=IwAR1nX3r1r3meowpnz582Va4UZOmQHm8gD8RwTtjQD4FXwDOr6w-2j0T3TqU
This website has lots of links to support communication and interaction for those who find this tricky. 

Able 2 Learn - https://able2learn.com/
This website has lots of visual-based recipes and social stories to support understanding of feelings and instructions. 

Learning 4 Kids - https://www.learning4kids.net/
A website with lots of hands-on activites for younger children and sensory activities which can be calming for all ages. 

Little Bins for Little Hands - https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/
Another website with lots of hands-on and sensory activities to provide some light relief. 

Child Line - https://www.childline.org.uk/toolbox/calm-zone/
Lots of ideas to support your children with keeping calm.  
 

For a change of scenery, try: 

https://www.familydaystriedandtested.com/free-virtual-tours-of-world-museums-educational-sites-galleries-for-children/

Click to Download Stress Management - a leaflet for pupils [pdf 461KB] Click to Download
Click to Download Anxiety - Online Booklet [pdf 3MB] Click to Download

Zones of Regulation

For some pupils, it may be difficult to verbalise how they are feeling. A useful and visual method to support this is Zones of Regulation. Pupils may find it easier to point at an image or link their feelings to a colour. Using this image, they can simply share how they are feeling and you can help encourage your child to try one of the following strategies to bring them back to the Green Zone.

  • Having a drink of water
  • Hiding under a blanket/duvet
  • Counting to 10
  • Playing with fidget toys
  • Drawing a picture
  • Ask to go for a walk or do something active e.g. 10 star jumps
  • Talk to an adult
  • Ask for a snack
  • Listen to music

A website with lots of great resources for this is http://mrsduranteszones.weebly.com/the-zones-of-regulation.html.

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Support for Adults

Action for Happiness -  www.actionforhappiness.org
Action for Happiness is not-for-profit, creating a movement of people committed to building a happier and more caring society, by helping people to take practical action drawing on the latest scientific research. The website provides many resources and evidence-based ideas for actions we can take to feel happier and help to reduce and prevent mental ill health, personally, in our communities, workplaces and schools.

Mental Health First Aid England Stress Container exercise - https://mhfaengland.org/mhfa-centre/resources/address-your-stress/stress-container-resource-download.pdf
Identify causes of stress and personal helpful coping strategies. There are a number of stress container exercises suitable for children online. 

Advice from the Mental Health foundation - https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/looking-after-your-mental-health-during-coronavirus-outbreak
The Mental Health Foundation is part of the national mental health response providing support to address the mental health and psychosocial aspects of the Coronavirus outbreak, alongside colleagues at Public Health England and the Department of Health and Social Care.  

Mind - https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/coronavirus-and-your-wellbeing/
Advice from Mind with coping with stress and anxiety including a wellbeing checklist to follow and what you can do at home to help. 

CDC - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/managing-stress-anxiety.html
Direct advice from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on managing stress and anxiety linked to the Covid-19 situation. 

5 Ways to Work Well From Home - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51868894
With many people making the sudden transition of working from home, this article provides 5 considerations to make the change as smooth as possible. 

Advice from Healthy Minds

Click to Download Relaxation Booklet [pdf 787KB] Click to Download