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Mental Health & Wellbeing

A whole school approach is crucial in tackling mental health effectively and particularly in removing stigma, by working universally across the school community.

Below you will find a breakdown of how, at Headley Park Primary School, we use these eight principles to support pupils, parents and staff. 

 

Leadership and management that supports and champions efforts to promote emotional health and wellbeing 

  • Katie Meaker, Assistant Headteacher, is the schools appointed Senior Mental Health Lead who has completed mental health lead training. 
  • Carol Morris, LSA, and Emma Cave , school business manager are Mental Health First Aiders for staff
  • Nicola Lewis, pastoral leader, is the Mental Health First Aider for children 
  • The school has a dedicated pastoral team who champion mental health and wellbeing. The team consists of: 
    • Katie Meaker - Assistant Headteacher with responsibility for mental health
    • Suzanne Azare - SENDCO
    • Nicola Lewis - Pastoral Learning Mentor
    • Alison Elson- Assistant SENDCO
    • Stacey Weeden- Safeguarding governor  

 

Curriculum teaching and learning to promote resilience and support social and emotional learning

  • We follow Kapow PSHE curriculum across the whole school
  • Our Kapow curriculum is supported by PSHE enrichment opportunities included in our ‘Enrichment Passport’.
  • When mental health trends or risks are identified we tailor our PSHE curriculum to meet the needs of the class/school. 
  • Staff have received training to deliver our RSE  and PSHE curriculum.
  • We use Zones of Regulation from EYFS to promote emotional literacy and regulation.These are displayed in each classroom and regularly referred to by staff to support emotional regulation and resilience. 
  • When appropriate we use external agencies to deliver workshops to pupils about issues that may affect their mental health and wellbeing. 
  • We have a whole school safeguarding curriculum that supports pupils to know how to keep safe and keep others safe. 
  • Our termly assembly rota covers mental health and wellbeing, as well as safeguarding and equalities. The rota is reactive to contextual changes within the school community.
  • We take part in Children's Mental Health Week, which includes assemblies, PSHE lessons and raising awareness activities.
  • We take part in other themed weeks such as Anti Bullying Week which is supported by our ABAS (Anti-bullying ambassadors).

 

Enabling student voice to influence decisions

  • Children’s voice is collected in an inclusive way through our worry boxes and student suggestion boxes. These are monitored by the safeguarding team and head boy / head girl.
  • We have an active group of ABA’s who promote change in regard to anti-bullying and a student leadership group who represent the pupils of Headley Park Primary school.

 

Staff development to support their own wellbeing and that of students

  • Staff have access to a anonymous staff feedback form which is responded to by SLT 
  • SLT continuously reviews workload, in line with the DFE workload document, and responds to any concerns raised by staff within 24 hours. 
  • Teaching staff are able to take PPA time from home to promote positive mental health.
  • All staff have access to Health Assured, where they can have free access to mental health and wellbeing support. This is promoted regularly by the school. 
  • All members of the safeguarding team access termly supervision from an external provider. 
  • Our Pastoral Learning Mentor is ELSA trained. They have regular supervision from Educational Psychologists, along with other ELSA’s in Bristol - where best practice is shared.

 

Identifying need and monitoring the impact of interventions 

  • The school uses a combination of trackers and cause for concern forms to identify pupils who may require additional support in regard to their mental health and wellbeing.
  • At our weekly safeguarding  meeting, we discuss the needs of identified children and decide what support is most appropriate. 
  • When a pupil is prescribed ELSA sessions, we use a social and emotional skills tracker to assess the targets that the pupil will work on. At the end of a 6 week programme a questionnaire will measure the success of these targets and whether further support is needed. 

 

Working with parents and carers

  • The school prides itself on having an open door policy for any parents to raise concerns. We work hard to develop positive relationships with our families
  • Our Assistant Head works with families where there may be a mental health need, offering bespoke support and signposting to external agencies
  • We work closely with external agencies to gain extra support for families
  • When a need has been identified in a child, our school nurse or Primary Mental Health lead can do a programme of work with parents to develop strategies that may support their child 
  • Any mental health concerns raised at school are always shared with parents 
  • Fortnightly newsletter includes links to community support which champions mental health and wellbeing.
  • Our mental health offer is easily accessible on our website for parents to see

 

Targeted support and appropriate referral 

  • We track pupils who staff, pupils or parents have identified as having poor mental health or being at risk of poor mental health. 
  • During our safeguarding weekly meetings we discuss referrals and consider appropriate next steps
  • Support we offer at the school includes pastoral support (in small groups or 1:1), ELSA sessions, school nurse packages, low intensity CBT through off the record or creative youth network and signpost to specific organisations if appropriate
  • Where it is deemed that the support in school can not meet the needs of the pupil, we access support from our assigned Primary Mental Health Specialist at CAMHS
  • The school refer to CAMHS if deemed appropriate

 

An ethos and environment that promotes respect and values diversity 

  • We are proud to be a school that staff enjoy working at. Our 2023/2024 found 100% of staff are proud to work at HPPS and 97% of staff enjoy working at Headley Park.
  • Our Headley Park Habits of “Respectful, responsible, ambitious and safe” underpin everything we do. 
  • Our kindness pledge “At Headley Park we are all equal, all different, all smiling, everyone is welcome here” is said by all children at the start of every assembly.
  • We insist that all staff show they care by having relentlessly high expectations of behaviour for all pupils. We demonstrate through actions and words the belief that they can all achieve.
  • To help our pupils succeed, we have clearly mapped out what our behavioural expectations are and we teach these expectations to the children. We call this our behaviour curriculum.
  • The school has a nurture base, which is open to pupils to use at lunchtimes as a calming space. It is also used during the day as a space for pupils who are dysregulated or require some emotional support. 
  • All bullying incidents are taken seriously. We have a clear process in place for the recording, reporting and responding of bullying. Once bullying is identified, those involved go on to a bullying log which is reviewed regularly. The plan involves support for the person being bullied and for the person doing the bullying. 
  • Any form of discriminatory language is not tolerated at Headley Park Primary School. Children are taught through their PSHE curriculum and through assemblies what discrimination is and the protected characteristics. When discriminatory language is used, all staff follow our response to discriminatory language procedure. This included learning packs to teach the effect that discriminatory language has,
  • Our English curriculum uses carefully selected texts that promote equality, acceptance and tackle specific moral, social and ethical issues. The texts are mapped out across the year so that teachers are aware of the sensitive content that may arise, whilst also having the opportunity to respond to events that are relevant to their contexts and cohorts. A copy of the literature spine can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vT2AmIX-aJAJ1qRT5k3tZHmQ_BdkFCv5lifueQ_ZgOHiQsJ1Ycs_7wpwquKbLlv6dO7P8WU65BcgJ2e/pub
  • Our assemblies and themed weeks are carefully mapped out across the year to ensure that children are taught about inclusion, diversity and equalities.