Health & Wellbeing

Our Emotional Health and Wellbeing Statement

Emotional health for children

Wellbeing Team

We know that the emotional health of children is the strongest predictor of happiness in adulthood and we want all of our children to grow up to be happy, confident, independent people who can contribute positively to society. At St Paul’s, we have a key role to play in enabling pupils and families to develop positive emotional wellbeing so that they are able to:

access their learning,
develop resilience,
develop the ability to problem solve,
ensure positive health (inc. mental health) development.

Happier children learn better and generally perform better in school. Poor mental health undermines educational attainment and life satisfaction.

Source: NHS Digital - Sept 2021

“In the last three years, the likelihood of young people having a mental health problem has increased by 50%.” © The Children's Society 2022

Physical health of children

Physical health is also vital to overall wellbeing and the school has a key role in enabling pupils and families to develop awareness of the importance of factors that contribute to this:

a balanced diet,
sufficient sleep,
regular exercise,
need for regular hydration,
personal hygiene,
dental hygiene,
sun safety.

Wellbeing

“Wellbeing is distinct from mental and physical health but very strongly related to both. If we have good physical health we are likely to have good wellbeing and even if we have a mental health condition we can still develop good wellbeing to help us cope.” Somerset Wellbeing Framework.

The Pillars of Wellbeing

Belonging
Relationships
Lifestyle - Diet, Activity and Sleep

Source: The Somerset Wellbeing Framework

St Paul’s ‘wellbeing for all’

The emotional health and wellbeing of all members of St Paul's CofE VC Junior School (including staff, children and parents and carers) – our St Paul’s community - is fundamental to our philosophy and ethos ‘wellbeing for all’. Through the three aspects – the Pillars of Wellbeing – Belonging, Relationships and Lifestyle, St Paul’s ‘wellbeing for all’ ethos has the following intentions:

Aims:

To ensure that through the promotion of positive emotional health and wellbeing, children and young people are helped to understand, recognise and express their feelings, build their confidence and emotional resilience and therefore increase their capacity to learn.
To increase the awareness, understanding and reduce stigma amongst children, staff and parents/carers of issues involving the emotional health and wellbeing of young people and to provide support at an early stage to any child who is or appears to be suffering from mental health issues.

Promoting positive emotional health and wellbeing:

The culture at St Paul's CofE VC Junior School promotes children’s positive emotional health and wellbeing and avoids stigma by:

Having a whole-school approach to promoting positive emotional health and wellbeing within an ethos of high expectations and constant support.
A wellbeing team comprised of: the Senior Mental Health Lead – Anna Muggleton; Family Wellbeing Coach (also known as PFSA) – Debbie Phillips; Pupil Wellbeing Coach – Julie Robbins; and SENDCo – Laura Parfitt. This team works together to facilitate children’s and staff’s emotional and physical health needs and provides further information for ongoing support to staff and families.
Wellbeing Champions – Each class has a nominated Wellbeing Champion who will communicate their classes’ ideas and questions about wellbeing. These Champions will work closely with the Wellbeing Team throughout the year, through whole school, year group or in-class worships to promote ideas about wellbeing and ‘good mental health’.
Having a committed staff community that sets a whole school culture of positive emotional health and wellbeing, support and values.
Openly talking about and discussing positive mental and physical health in class through the PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) curriculum. We do this through the JIGSAW PSHE Scheme and each year group builds on and consolidates previous learning.
Other opportunities to reflect and discuss positive mental health and promoting the importance of sharing difficult feelings and emotions with people we trust through collective worship – whether whole school, year group or class-based.
Ensuring high quality continuing professional development (CPD) for staff.
Working closely with children, parents and carers.

Whole school promotion of building individual resilience and tenacity in all areas of the curriculum.
Having existing designated spaces such as ‘The Raised Beds’ (encouraging children to plant and care for pollinator-friendly flowers, vegetables and herbs); ‘The Wellbeing Garden (which includes a bug hotel for children to observe insects); ‘The Sunflower Maze’ (an area being developed for children to explore with willow hedges, sunflowers and wildflowers. These areas are to support mental health and wellbeing in the school community.

Outside spaces under development also include: the damp ditch for the resident frogs and hopefully newts, plus a hedgehog house; the sensory garden - this will have scented plants, pergola with vines and a bench for a quiet/reflective space for children and staff.

Supporting children:

Our school offers a range of services to help our children develop positive mental health and wellbeing, as well as additional support for those experiencing mental health difficulties. These include:

Building positive parent/carer partnerships to enable early intervention to accessing mental health and wellbeing support and to allow for consistent strategy implementation within home and school to support the child.
Having clear communication for parents/careers such as home-school books, visible staff at school drop-off, regular teacher contact by phone or Class Dojo, and pastoral support so that any changes can be identified, and support given to child/ parent / carers as required.
Communication to families about changes in school routines so that children are prepared and aware of the changes, with the aim of reducing children’s anxiety.
Teachers, support staff and the Wellbeing Team are well placed to spot changes in behaviour that might indicate a problem and offer support and guidance. Many things can cause a change in mental health including traumatic events (e.g., loss or separation, life changes, abuse, domestic violence or bullying).
Behaviour policy which helps create a positive school environment and support children in making the right choices which contributes to their own and others’ emotional wellbeing.
Weekly wellbeing-focussed collective worships in order to raise awareness and understanding of what contributes to positive physical and mental health, and to provide strategies for children to look after themselves and each other.
The daily Golden Mile, experienced PE teacher, and wide array of after-school sports clubs to boost children’s physical fitness which studies show positively impacts on children’s body-image, and physical and mental health.
Weekly wellbeing sessions provided for children identified as needing support with friendships, worries and self-esteem.
Regular sessions with the Pupil Wellbeing Coach for those children who need further time to discuss and reflect on their emotions.

Transition support provided by outside agencies to Year 6 children and additional sessions for those who need it.
Transition support and activities for Year 2 children who are due to join St Paul's. This included additional visits during the school day for the most vulnerable children and an after school 'Explorers Club' for all children to spend additional time with us meeting staff and getting to know the staff. We also send all new pupils a postcard over the summer to let them know we are looking forward to seeing them in September.

Providing calming and restorative spaces for children to spend time in such as: the library; the outdoor classroom space; the The Wellbeing Garden (which includes a bug hotel for children to observe insects); ‘The Sunflower Maze’ (this area is also being developed further for children to explore, with willow hedges, sunflowers and wildflowers); and the Copse.

The Queen Elizabeth II Plant Hospital provides children with a calming and focused environment where they can spend time caring for plants that need care and attention. It encourages the children’s social skills and provides time and space for them to reflect and talk.

The St Paul’s school dog – Matilda – who provides a focus for children who need time to reflect and discuss their feelings out of class.

Wellbeing Champions – Each class has a nominated Wellbeing Champion who will communicate their classes’ ideas and questions about wellbeing. These Champions will work closely with the Wellbeing Team throughout the year, through whole school, year group or in-class worships to promote ideas about wellbeing and ‘good mental health’.
Constructive links with outside support and specialist agencies (e.g. school nurse, play therapist) to provide interventions for those with additional mental health needs.

Promoting emotional health and wellbeing of staff

Emotional health of School Staff

The emotional health and wellbeing of all staff is of paramount importance to effective running of any school. Not only does it directly impact the wellbeing of children but, as significant adults in children’s lives, school staff must set a good example and model positive emotional health. More than that, all staff deserve to enjoy their jobs and feel supported. This way they can enjoy long and enjoyable careers in teaching, teaching support and school support.

To this end, we offer a range of interventions and support to help promote the positive wellbeing of our Staff. These include:

A wellbeing team comprised of: the Senior Mental Health Lead – Anna Muggleton, Family Wellbeing Coach (also known as PFSA) – Debbie Phillips, Wellbeing Teaching Assistant – Julie Robbins and SENDCo – Laura Parfitt. This team works together facilitating staff’s emotional health needs and providing further information for ongoing support.
No morning staff briefings at all so that staff have more time in class to get ready for the day ahead and only one staff meeting after school on alternative Wednesdays.
Dedicated year group planning time on alternative Wednesdays.
Teachers are allocated additional PPA time (Planning, Preparation and Assessment Time) (4 hours for FT teachers, compared to standard 2.5hours) to reduce stress and help manage workload.
An annual staff wellbeing survey to monitor how our staff are doing, and then agreeing actions collectively to improve their working lives.
A spacious staffroom with comfy seating, situated in a quiet location on the school site.
A supportive SLT who regularly check-in with staff informally and through performance management.
Realistic and manageable planning and marking policies that do not place too much pressure on staff or increase workload unnecessarily.
Governor visits to see how the children and staff are getting on.

Raising concerns:

Any member of staff, child, parent/carer concerned about the mental health and wellbeing of a child should speak to the class teacher in the first instance. The class teacher will monitor and support them, and refer to the Wellbeing Team and School Leadership Team for additional support or for further intervention.