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Smitham Primary School

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Vision and Values

How do we promote well-being through our curriculum?

We place a great emphasis on the teaching of well-being. Our staff follow the 2020 RSE curriculum intentions and use a mix of resources from the 'PSHE Association' and '1decisions' to help us deliver the curriculum. We deliver a weekly session to the children giving parents advance notice of the topics being covered, through the weekly Year Group Newsletter.

Other ways we support good mental health

The class teacher is the first point of contact for children who need support with their wellbeing.
If we feel that a pupil requires further help, then they will be put onto a Well-being Pathway. The support for those on a Well-being Pathway can look very different from one child to the next.
A member of our Senior Leadership team is trained in Mental Health First Aid.
Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) - timetabled to support children across the school.
Two trained Forest School Leaders currently deliver the Forest School programme across the school. These sessions encourage the 5 ways to wellbeing: Stay Active, Learn, Give, Connect and Notice (Mind.org.uk).

Please see a larger version of our Wellbeing Pyramid in the documents at the bottom of the page, for further information of the support we offer our pupils.

How do we ensure we have a 'happy' staff?

The leadership team are mindful of staff workload and actively seek to ensure that new initiatives and existing strategies effectively and efficiently support the teaching and learning of each child and the development of staff, without impacting adversely on workload.

Smitham has appointed a Well-being Governor and there is a member of the Senior Leadership team with the responsibility for supporting staff mental well-being. This staff member is also training in Mental Health First Aid.

We have created a Well-being Risk Assessment to support all of our staff teams and the staff have a Well-being Pyramid similar to the children's one.
How do we make sure our children feel valued?

We have seven different councils which give our children a 'voice' and a chance to represent their year group/class. The children see the value of these councils and how they have been instrumental in effecting change, for example: deciding upon the resources for developing our PE provision outside; designing an historical timeline and an influential figures display to celebrate diversity; designing a Well-being Garden that was then created with the help of our families on our Grounds' Day.
How do we support our parents?
Communication underpins our partnership with parents. Our 'open-door' approach ensures effective access to teachers and senior leaders at all times.

We have also developed an Anxiety Leaflet to help support parents who feel their child may be showing signs of anxiety. (A copy of this is at the bottom of the page.)

Parent Gym: A member of school staff is trained to deliver in-house Parent Gym sessions to parents. This training covers a variety of topics such as bedtime routines, homework, sibling disputes etc. The sessions aim to encourage parents to reflect on the dynamics within the family and Parent Gym techniques that can be used to help develop a more harmonious and calmer environment.
Strategies for Parents:
Is your child anxious? Follow this link to find out more about how to make a worry box at home.

https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/blog/how-to-make-a-worry-box-a-guide-for-parents/

Sleep issues? Use Jo Morton-Brown's 3 top tips for getting a better night's sleep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnfRYGj3ZCQ

Kooth is a website designed to support children's mental wellbeing. It is a virtual support site which offers a range of different strategies: e.g. an instant messaging service, a trackers to allow children to track how they are feeling. https://www.kooth.com

Join a Parent Gym programme, run in school, to learn new strategies to support you to create a calm and more harmonious home environment. Parent Gym page

Learn more about Eating Disorders

If you are worried about the mental health of your child, here are some helplines:

SHOUT - text ‘Shout’ to 85258 for 24/7 crisis text support

YoungMinds Parents Helpline - Call 0808 802 5544 for free Mon-Fri from 9.30am to 4pm