Wellbeing

Mental Health and Well-being at Cledford Primary School

At Cledford Primary school we encourage our children and families to promote positive mental health. This can be seen through our ethos of our 3 R’s- Respect, Responsibility and Resilience. With this in mind, we continuously strive to be an emotionally healthy school, by adopting a whole school approach with regards to well-being. Through our daily meet and greets and our relaxing break out areas, our children are able to explore their emotions and regulate themselves in a safe space.

At Cledford we aim to promote positive mental health for every member of our staff and pupils. We pursue this aim by using quality first teaching and ordinarily available inclusive practice, whole school approaches and our restorative behaviour system. In addition to promoting positive mental health, we aim to recognise and respond to mental health difficulties through personalised support, group work and supportive activities such as nurture interventions.

ELSA

Mental health and wellbeing are our priority as happy confident children become happy learners. As a school, we identified the need for ongoing support for mental health and wellbeing and as a result, we now have an ELSA trained member of staff.  An ELSA in a school is an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant.  ELSAs can support children’s emotional development and help them manage life’s challenges.  An ELSA’s role is to provide children with the strategies to regulate their emotions and the support to provide solutions that children can draw on when necessary. Relationships are key in helping children to feel safe and nurtured.  ELSA is about creating the time and reflective space for the child. We have introduced ELSA interventions for our teaching assistants to deliver to support more of our children.

Areas that our ELSA supports in:

·      Loss and bereavement

·      Self-esteem

·      Social Skills

·      Friendship conflicts

·      Relationships

·      Managing strong feelings

·      Anxiety and worries

·      Conflict

·      Emotional regulation

·      Growth mindset

Pastoral Manager

As a school, we recognise that there are times when families may need additional support. Our Pastoral Manager, Mrs Plimmer, works closely with both Mental Health Leads, Mr Simpson- Wells and Miss Addis as well as the wider staff to offer support and advice by:

Aiding communication between parents, carers, guardians and professionals.

Supporting parents, carers and guardians to manage the emotional wellbeing of their children.

Listening to parent, carer and guardian concerns and working with them to find solutions.

Signposting and referring to the appropriate service that can support families such as Health Visitors, Mental Health Support Team, CLASP, Cheshire Without Abuse and the Food Bank.

Support and advice around managing behaviour and improving routines

Providing ‘Extra Help’ and ‘Targeted Help’ to support families.

In addition to this, our wellbeing team works alongside healthcare professionals to offer timely and helpful support. We have links with the following support networks:

Mental Health Leads: Mr Simpson-Wells and Miss Addis

Pastoral Manager: Mrs Plimmer

ELSA support: Mrs Plimmer

Mental Health Support Team

Emotionally Healthy Schools

Children & Adult Mental Health Service (CAMHS)

CLASP

CWA

Visyon

Change Grow Live

Wellbeing Ambassadors

At Cledford we value and promote pupil voice and have promoted this through creating our Wellbeing Ambassadors.

Our Wellbeing Ambassadors role is to:

·To support, aid and promote positive mental health.

·Offer pupil support from both teachers and pupil ambassadors

·Provide strategies for children to support their mental health.

The Wellbeing Ambassadors meet every half term to discuss an agenda and listen to ideas on how we can make a positive change to our school environments to create a happy and calm environment for all. With the support of the PTA we understand that playtimes can be difficult for some children, therefore, we are planning to create a quieter outdoor reading area for those who need a calming space to get lost in a book.

Our Wellbeing Ambassadors top tips for improving our wellbeing:

“When I feel upset I like to..”

·      Colour

·      Play outside

·      Dance

·      Read a book

·      Gymnastics

·      Walk the dog

·      Play with fidgets

If you have an ongoing worry about your child's mental health and well-being, please speak to your child's class teacher.

Alternatively, Mrs Plimmer, Mr Simpson- Wells and Miss Addis are available for support.