Elmsett C of E Primary School.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

At Elmsett Primary School, we are committed to supporting the emotional health and well-being of our children and colleagues. We know that our school culture has a positive impact on well-being and we all have a role to play in ensuring that ours is a supportive school.

Any one of us may need additional emotional support occasionally. When this happens we encourage everyone in our school community to reach out to connect with a friend and share concerns.

Our school culture is one that promotes community and social cohesion and we positively promote the idea that everyone in our school community should be able to identify at least one person that they can trust to speak to when times get difficult.

At our school we:

help children to recognise and understand their emotions and feelings better including understanding at a basic level how the brain works
support children to feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries
actively promote positive relationships and a sense of community as this supports mental health and well being
promote self-esteem and ensure children know that they are talented and unique
encourage children to be confident
develop emotional resilience and strategies to manage setbacks

Our Curriculum

Our curriculum is designed to support children's well-being, development of relationships and good mental health through a range of lessons and positive experiences including the PSHE curriculum, RE, PE & Sports and Educational Visits.

Additional Support:

From time to time our children may need different levels of support:

Universal Support - Through our school ethos and our broad and balanced curriculum of activities including those listed above we aim to meet the needs of all our pupils.

Additional support - For those who may have short term needs and those who may have been made vulnerable by life experiences we offer additional support, for example, special time on a regular basis to talk with a supportive member of staff.

We can provide mini nurture sessions, interventions such as ‘Time to Talk’, ‘Socially Speaking’ and ‘Friendship Formula’. Our Computing curriculum incorporates ‘We Do Lego’.

Targeted support- For pupils who need more differentiated support, there are specific resources and targeted interventions including the School Nursing Team, Where more specialist support is required the school will sign-post to additional services e.g. the G.P. or the emotional well-being hub.

Support for Parents and Carers with their own MHW needs

All parents and carers are a much valued and highly respected part of the Elmsett Primary School Community, and we care about your mental health and well-being too.

School is always open for you to come and discuss your own MHW needs with us, and we will always endeavour to support you in the best possible way. We work with you to do what is best for your child, and sometimes that involves taking care of you first. At Elmsett we understand that everyone experiences life challenges that can make them vulnerable. At times, anyone may need additional support to maintain or develop good mental health and resilience.

We want our school to be a mentally healthy environment where parents/carers:

are recognised for their significant contribution to children and young people’s mental health
are welcomed, included and work in partnership with schools and agencies
are provided with opportunities where they can ask for help when needed
are signposted to appropriate agencies for support

The following links may also be of use. They provide a wealth of information and also signpost useful mental health agencies and support groups.

Links to Useful sites/ resources: