Mental Health and Wellbeing
Mental Health and Well-being at Normanby Primary School
At Normanby Primary, we take mental health very seriously. Wellbeing is at the forefront of our school’s vision of leading a mentally healthy school.
We know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable, and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support. We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play.
It is important to provide an effective and enjoyable teaching and learning environment, where children and young people flourish. We aim to promote the mental and physical health and emotional well-being for our staff, parents and pupils at every opportunity. Therefore, positive well-being is integrated within school’s curriculum and promoting good mental health is a priority.
At Normanby, we have a number of strategies and services in place to utilise and work with; some of which are as follows:
- ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) with Mrs Roberts
- Early Help Support with Miss Lawrence
- A Time 4U counselling Service
- Circle time approaches or ‘circle of friends’ activities.
- Managing feelings resources e.g. ‘worry boxes’ and ‘worry eaters’
- Primary Group Work/Mental health and wellbeing groups
- Therapeutic activities including art, lego and relaxation and mindfulness techniques.
At Normanby, we also follow a programme called WellBeings, which facilitates a whole school approach to mental health; teaching us strategies to help with our mental health.
It is important to us to:
- Help children to understand their emotions and feelings better
- Help children feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries
- Support children to form and maintain healthy relationships
- Promote self-esteem and ensure children know that they count
- Encourage children to be confident and ‘dare to be different’
- Support children to develop emotional resilience and the skills to manage setbacks
We offer different levels of support:
Universal Support – To meet the needs of all our pupils through our overall ethos and our wider curriculum. For instance, developing resilience for all.
Additional support – For those who may have short-term needs and those who may have been made vulnerable by life experiences such as bereavement
Targeted support – For pupils who need more differentiated support and resources or specific targeted interventions such as wellbeing groups or personal mentors
For strategies to help promote positive mental health at home, please follow the links below to some of the websites and organisations we use:
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/
https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-health-development/promoting-mental-health-wellbeing
https://www.place2be.org.uk/our-services/parents-and-carers/supporting-your-child-s-mental-health/
https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-we-do/our-work/well-being
https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/supporting-others/childrens-mental-health/
Here are the 5 steps to a whole-school approach to children’s mental health and wellbeing by the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. At Normanby, we are:
