Emotional Health and Mental Wellbeing

Covid-19 Child Wellbeing Survey 

12^th May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we begin to think about how and when school will re-open, we are thinking about how we can best support your children on their return. We know the pandemic will have affected your children in different ways and, in partnership with yourselves, we need to take care of them.

The link below is to a survey. The survey asks your children questions on how they may be feeling about certain situations that they will have faced over recent weeks. The answers to these will help us, as a school, plan for how we can arrange lessons, discussions and provide support on their return to school.

The survey is confidential and anonymous. Some children, especially the younger ones, will need you to read the questions to them. 

Please complete the survey via the link at the bottom of this letter.

With best wishes, 

Mr I Shearsmith

Emotional Health & Mental Wellbeing Co-ordinator

Emotional Health and Wellbeing at St Thomas’

Over the course of their education, children spend over 7,800 hours at school.  With such a huge amount of time spent in the classroom, schools provide an ideal environment for promoting good emotional wellbeing and identifying early behaviour changes and signs of mental distress. The social and emotional skills, knowledge and behaviours that young people learn in the classroom can help them to build resilience and set the pattern for how they will manage their mental health throughout their lives.  Emotional wellbeing is a clear indicator of academic achievement, success and satisfaction in later life. Evidence shows that mental health and wellbeing programmes in schools, can lead to significant improvements in children’s mental health, and social and emotional skills. Wellbeing provision in schools can also lead to reductions in classroom misbehaviour and bullying.

St Thomas’ CE Primary School actively values and supports pupils and staff on their journey to positive mental health. We aim to make a positive difference to pupils and staff mental health and wellbeing. As a school, we know that Wellbeing matters. Looking after your own and your child’s mental health will have a positive impact on their wellbeing.

At school, we are using ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’ to improve the mental health of our children, staff and our families. 

This is a link to a short film about what the 5 Ways to Wellbeing mean to children, using their lives and their ideas. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF7Ou43Vj6c&fbclid=IwAR04SPi--FKjFuaLHzE8BNtbfAOiSqEMaoEUnNwub3Rep2YqsYV0WzrOsn0&app=desktop

World Mental Health day - Thursday 10th October 2019

We supported the Young Minds 'Hello Yellow' initiative again this year for World Mental Health Awareness Day. 

The children were asked to come to school dressed in yellow and bring an item of yellow clothing to dress a teacher. Children were taught lessons on Mental Wellbeing and took part in an assembly discussing the '5 ways to wellbeing'. 

ELSA Support (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant)

We have a qualified ELSA, Mrs Grattidge, working with children in school from all different year groups.

What is ELSA?

An ELSA is a specialist teaching assistant with a wealth of experience of working with children. ELSAs are trained and regularly supervised by the Educational Psychologists in your Local education authority. An ELSA is a warm and caring person who wants to help your child feel happy in school and to reach their potential educationally.  Their aim is to remove the barriers to learning and to have happy children in school and at home.

An ELSA can help with: Loss and bereavement, Self-esteem, Social skills, Emotions, Friendship issues, Relationships, Anger management, Behaviour, Anxiety, Bullying, Conflict, Relaxation techniques

See the attached parent leaflet for more information

Zippy, Apple and Passport 

Children in Year 2, 4 and 5 take part in Zippy, Apple and Passport lessons. Zippy is taught in year 2, Apple in Year 4 and  Passport in Year 5.

Zippy

Zippy’s Friends is a school based social emotional learning programme for 5-7 year olds. The programme is taught to the whole class by teachers trained in Zippy’s Friends.  

The fundamental concept behind the programme is very simple – if we can teach young children how to cope with difficulties, they should be better able to handle problems and crises in adolescence and later life. Zippy’s Friends has been evaluated and found to improve children’s coping skills, social skills, emotional literacy, improve the class climate and reduce bullying.

For more information click on the link below: 

https://www.partnershipforchildren.org.uk/what-we-do/programmes-for-schools/zippys-friends.html

Apple 

Apple’s Friends is a school based social emotional learning programme for 7 – 9 year olds. The programme is taught to the whole class by teachers trained in Apple’s Friends in the UK. 

The programme reinforces skills learnt in Zippy’s Friends for 5-7 year olds but children do not need to have taken part in Zippy’s Friends to complete Apple’s Friends; it is an independent programme.

Apple’s Friends is based around a series of stories and the programme has 24 sessions of 45 minutes.

The six modules cover:

• Feelings
• Communication
• Friendship
• Conflict
• Change and Loss
• Moving forward

Children develop their own positive strategies to deal with problems through engaging activities: listening to stories, discussion, games, role-play and drawing. There are also Home Activities to reinforce learning at home with parents and carers.

For more information click on the link below: 

https://www.partnershipforchildren.org.uk/what-we-do/programmes-for-schools/apples-friends.html

Passport 

Passport is a school based social emotional learning programme for 9 – 11 year olds. The programme is taught to the whole class by teachers trained in Passport in the UK.

The programme is based on the same theory as Zippy’s Friends and Apple’s Friends – the Concept of Coping – but looks quite different.  Engaging comic strip stories follow the adventures of Olya and Milo as they discover a secret world of fantastical creatures in the company of their friend, Elly the dragon.

The 17 sessions are divided into five modules which cover:

• Emotions
• Relationships
• Difficult Situations
• Fairness, Justice and What is Right
• Change and Loss

For more information click on the link below: 

https://www.partnershipforchildren.org.uk/what-we-do/programmes-for-schools/passport.html

Oldham Council Support and Resources

The Oldham whole school and college approach to emotional health and mental wellbeing aims to promote social, emotional and mental wellbeing.

The framework offers practical guidance to schools and colleges to develop knowledge and skills to promote mental health and wellbeing and prevent minor problems from escalating into more serious long-term issues.

The document contains key actions that head teachers and college principles can take to embed the whole school approach to emotional health and mental wellbeing.

The framework offers practical guidance to schools and colleges to develop knowledge and skills to promote mental health and wellbeing and prevent minor problems from escalating into more serious long-term issues.

The document contains key actions that head teachers and college principles can take to embed the whole school approach to emotional health and mental wellbeing.

The actions are based on the eight principles.

These are:

• The school ethos and environment
• Curriculum, teaching and learning
• Student voice
• Staff development, health and wellbeing
• Identifying need and monitoring impact
• Working with parents / carers
• Targeted support

External Wellbeing Resources

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•  Early Help is for individuals, households and families that need support to stop issues getting worse or reaching crisis point. https://www.oldham.gov.uk/info/200253/resources_for_practitioners/969/childrens_workforce_practitioners/2
•  Young Minds - The Youth Wellbeing Directory provides you with a list of free local and national organisations for anyone up to the age of 25, along with important information you may find helpful.
• https://youngminds.org.uk/
• MIND - We won't give up until everyone experiencing a mental health problem gets both support and respect.
• https://www.mind.org.uk/
• TOG MIND At Tameside, Oldham and Glossop Mind we offer counselling to all residents of Tameside and Glossop aged 16 or over.
• https://www.togmind.org/
•  Anna Freud Talking Mental Health Tools - An understanding of what mental health is and the difference between every day small feelings and a big feeling. 
• https://www.annafreud.org/on-my-mind/youth-wellbeing/find-a-service-near-you/