Well-Being
Mental Health and Wellbeing
At Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School, we nurture minds, bodies and hearts. We believe that when a child is happy and healthy, both physically and mentally, they flourish. A strong relationship with parents ensures that we work together to support all children to develop positive mental well-being, enabling them to reach their potential and seek help when they need it.
We have a role, alongside parents, to ensure that pupils understand that their feelings will change and it is ok to feel sad, to have a friendship issue or other childhood worries, but it is how we deal with this emotion that will support their mental wellbeing. Pupils are taught, both directly through our curriculum and discreetly, about what they can do to maintain positive mental health, and how they can seek help. This work is further supported through our school values, the teaching of Growth Mind-set principals and also our personally written Relationship and Health Curriculum.
What is Mental Health and Wellbeing?
To avoid ambiguity or confusion, as a school community we use the World Health Organisation’s definition of mental health and wellbeing “a state of wellbeing in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community”.
Whole School Approach
We take a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing and are part of the Children’s Health Project. From Nursery to Year 6 children are taught about resilience, positivity, the benefits of talking to others and sharing their worries, alongside a variety of age appropriate strategies. The school environment is open and supportive and there is a positive culture of support for each other.
Within our whole school approach, we ensure:
- A personalised curriculum that supports the development of Growth mind-set attributes and personal development.
- An ethos of positive behaviours.
- Pupils understand how to develop safe and happy relationships and friendships.
- We work closely with parents and carers.
Common strategies that make a difference
Praise and acknowledgment of effort
When children are struggling they tend to focus on the negative, so positive praise is important to support them, particularly when the praise is specific and genuine.
Create realistic expectations
Being realistic about what can be achieved by a child is important. Enabling children to create and own their own goals ensures they are manageable and the child knows the steps needed to achieve these goals.
Embrace a Growth Mind-set
As adults, research shows that we can often have a closed mind-set, which means that we need to reflect on our behaviours, as well as our children. From Nursery, we begin introducing and modelling a Growth Mind-set and teach the children what this means.
We aim to ensure that they learn the value of:
- Reflection
- Perseverance
- Challenge
- Effort
- Resilience
as they see the benefit of learning from mistakes. We teach the children that ‘They can’t do it yet.’
Increased sense of independence and ownership
We work hard to encourage children to be independent in all that they do. By prompting and supporting children, they accomplish more and become independent in their actions, thinking and eventually aspirations.
Reflect on achievements
Children need to feel like they have achieved something worthwhile. School staff work on opportunities throughout the day for children to reflect on what has gone well, within a social situation, a piece of work or aspect of their work that they are proud of. If children begin to identify the positives, then it will give them a sense of belonging and achievement and allow them to reflect on the day.
Identify Anxiety
Children feel empowered if they are given the opportunities and responsibility to reflect and identify when they are feeling anxious. Families are then able to build in opportunities to allow your child to talk about something they can do, which will help distract them from their anxieties. This can also mean factoring in breaks for the children affected so they can have a minute where they remove themselves from the stresses of homework or a particular task.
Useful websites:
Mental Health UK - Forward Together
Redbridge Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services CAMHS | NELFT NHS Foundation Trust
