Mental Health and Well-being | St. Augustine's Catholic Primary School

Mental Health and Well-being

At St Augustine’s, we take mental health and well-being very seriously. Wellbeing and mental health in our pupils, staff and parents are at the forefront of our school’s vision of leading a mentally healthy school.

We are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our pupils and staff.

f. 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.

We want 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. Well-being is at the forefront of the school’s curriculum and promoting good mental health is a priority.

On this well-being page you will find a variety of services that offer support locally, nationally and online. Please see our page packed full of signposted services and resources for parents/carers.

Mrs Dunning is our Senior Mental Health Leader

Mrs Nicholson is our Deputy Mental Health Leader

We are a My Happy Mind School

See our dedicated page (click on the My Happy Mind log below)

At St Augustine’s we:

help children to understand their emotions and feelings better
help children feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries
help children socially to form and maintain relationships
promote self-esteem and ensure children know that they count
encourage children to be confident and ‘dare to be different’
help children to develop emotional resilience and 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 (See Rainbows programme).

Targeted support – For pupils who need more differentiated support and resources or specific targeted interventions such as wellbeing groups or personal mentors 9See information about REACH/The Bungalow Project).

My Happy Mind Heroes

We have My Happy Heroes across school.

Happiness Heroes are responsible for:

Ensuring that their peers are happy during break and lunch times.
Attending meetings to organise My Happy Mind events.
Plan and hold events to promote positive mental health.
Look out for children demonstrating their character strengths.

HeadStart

We have trained groups of children in Year 5 & 6 who are called ‘Headstarters.’

HeadStart is a long term programme (7+ years from 2016) funded by the National Lottery Community Fund trialling a broad range of initiatives for improving resilience and emotional well-being in 10-16 year olds in order to:

improve emotional well-being
improve engagement in school and academic attainment,
reduce the onset of diagnosable mental health disorders
reduce engagement in ‘risky’ behaviour.

We are an Elsa School

This means we have a member of staff who is a trained Emotional Literacy Support Assistant.

What is ELSA?

There will always be children and young people in schools facing life challenges that detract from their ability to engage with learning. Some will require greater support to increase their emotional literacy than others. ELSA is an initiative developed and supported by educational psychologists. It recognises that children learn better and are happier in school if their emotional needs are also addressed.

The majority of ELSA work is delivered on an individual basis, but sometimes small group work is more appropriate, especially in the areas of social and friendship skills. Sessions are fun, we use a range of activities such as:

games,
role-play with puppets
therapeutic activities such as mindfulness or arts and craft.
tailored programmes of work

Outside Agencies:

Stress, worries and pressures at school can have a huge impact on your life. ‘Schools in Mind’ or REACH are there to help. They can offer emotional support to any child attending any school in Middlesbrough.

They offer one-to-one sessions as well as group work. Their work is aimed at young people at risk of emotional or mental health difficulties and those with existing mild to moderate difficulties. This is delivered through group work and emotional support.

They also provide group work which focuses on raising awareness of emotional well-being, building resilience and teaching coping strategies, including working on issues such as confidence and self-esteem, stress, anxiety, low mood and anger.

The Bungalow Partnership is a Teesside based Charity supporting the Emotional Wellbeing of local children, young people and families. They do this by providing parenting, mentoring and therapeutic support aimed at improving the emotional wellbeing of local people and supporting families to enjoy positive relationships with each other. The therapists within The Bungalow Partnership have a wide range of experience and specialisms. We work across Tees Valley supporting children and families impacted by loss, divorce and separation, bereavement, autism, attachment/ relational difficulties, those displaying behavioural or emotional responses to their environment, those who have been displaced from their own country of origin, those impacted by trauma, those with poor communication skills, families impacted by domestic violence, physical abuse, sexual abuse and/or sexually harmful behaviours.

We all have times when we have low Mental Wellbeing, where we feel stressed, upset or find it difficult to cope.

There are some common life events that may affect you or your child’s Mental Wellbeing:

Loss or bereavement.
Relationship problems.
Issues at school.
Worries about money.

Everyone deserves to feel good and there are steps you or your child can take to maintain and improve your Mental Wellbeing:

Build positive relationships.
Take time for yourself.
Look after your mental health.
Look after your physical health.

What can your child can do in school to gain Mental Wellbeing?

Be open and talk about your feelings with your friends.
Associate yourself with positive people.
Join an afterschool club.
Speak to a member of staff.
Get physically active (a Health body and mind are closely linked).

Rainbows Support Programme

We run this programme in school using trained teachers who are able to offer support for small groups of children who have experienced a significant loss in their lives. This may be due to the death of a loved one, or family breakdown/separation.

This programme helps children cope with their grief and feel less alone.

Why this is needed

Sadly, one out of every 29 school children have been bereaved of a parent or sibling. That is one in every classroom. Incidences of divorce and separation impacting on children are even higher. As a result, many children feel sad, anxious and alone.

Without support, bereavement and loss can cause children to become increasingly isolated and lead to more serious mental health issues developing. Children’s ability to engage with learning and achieve at school can also be affected.

How Rainbows can help

Rainbows gives children the opportunity to talk about their feelings with peers in a safe and nurturing environment. This helps them to feel less alone with their grief and to understand there are others who are going through similar experiences. As a result, pupils’ self-esteem and confidence grows and they are in a far stronger position to engage with school life and achieve their full potential.

Useful Websites

https://www.childline.org.uk/toolbox/calm-zone/?scrlybrkr=dbe31a2c

https://youngminds.org.uk/

https://www.place2be.org.uk/

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/for-children-and-young-people/

http://bereavement.lgfl.org.uk/

CAMHS resources

A really helpful website which includes, downloadable self-help activities, information guides, videos and more.

https://www.camhs-resources.co.uk/