Our fundamental belief is that a happy child is a child who is going to be the child that succeeds both socially and academically. Therefore we put the children's well-being at the forefront of everything we do and we monitor this constantly. During Pupil Progress meetings each child's well-being is discussed and, if any barriers to their learning are identified, we provide a nurture intervention. 

The interventions we identify include: 

• Boys / Girls Group 
• 1:1 sessions with Nurture TP
• Small Group sessions with Nurture TP
• Group sessions with Play Therapist
• PSHE whole class sessions with class teacher 
   

Parents / Carers will be contacted if children are attending 1:1 or groups sessions either by their class teacher.

Mental health is a huge priority and on some occasions we seek support from outside of school. We work closely with families and external agencies to ensure children receive the best support possible.  

- Wellbeing Register

When the register is taken at the beginning of the day and after lunch, we include a wellbeing register. How this works is that the children simply provide the teacher with a number between 1 and 10 (1 being low and 10 being high). When and if a child gives a number that is considerably lower to what they normally say it alerts the teaching team to the situation and they are then able to chat to the individual about what is bothering them. We have been doing this for a number of years and it is very effective.

 

- PSHE Lessons 

As part of the statutory national curriculum, children receive a weekly Personal Social Health Education lesson. This covers a range of themes across the year include ‘Being me in My World’ and ‘Relationships’. Usually at this stage of the year we would just be covering ‘Being me in My World’; however, in order to provide further support for the children, the teachers are going to be covering ‘Relationships’ (taken from the previous year curriculum which they missed due to Lockdown). This covers friendships, family relationships, conflict resolution and communication skills. One of the reasons we have chosen to do this is that the children are adapting to spending extended period of times with their peers. Usually after a typical summer holiday children can take a couple of days to reconnect with friends. Occasionally the dynamics of  friendships will change as they get older and develop different interests. We therefore have anticipated that some children would be finding this aspect of school difficult and possibly upsetting. These lessons along with other support should help children understand and positively reconnect with their friends.

 

- Monday Class Assembly 

 Class Assembly happens first thing on Monday morning. This is an opportunity to talk about the week, discuss what they are looking forward to as well as identifying the value of the week and what this might look like at for them. It is an opportunity for the class to come together at the beginning of the week and share how things are going in general. At the beginning of term each class decide on a goal to work on as a whole class.  This moves onto children setting their own goals that they can articulate and express ways in which they are hoping to achieve it.

 

- Worry Box

Each class has a worry box which allows children to write down anything that is bothering them. It can be anonymous or they can put their name on it. This is checked daily and allows the teaching team or member of SLT to support individual children who are more comfortable are writing down their anxieties rather than sharing them verbally. 

 

- Calm area 

Each classroom has an area that is designated as a calm area.  We have provided them with a space and tools to help self regulate.  This will be for a timed period and can be accessed throughout the day.so that they can go and sit quietly for a short period of time. 

 

- Zones of Regulation

Our teaching teams have been trained in Zones of Regulation. The idea of the Zones is that it teaches children how to self-regulate when they are experiencing high levels of emotion. Each classroom has these displayed to allow children to understand their feelings and to learn how to manage these feelings. This is displayed in a calm area of the classroom. 

 

- Movement Breaks 

For many years we have applied Brain Gym, and now movement breaks. These provide children with short periods of time during their lessons where they get up and move, getting the blood flow up and allowing them to have a concentration break. 

 

- Calm and Friendship Benches

 The Friendship bench is used  to support children who are feeling lonely and want a friend to talk to. Children and staff are aware of this and will approach the child to talk or encourage them in joining in with others. 

 

- Safe Adults

Being part of a small school is a real luxury as it means everyone is really aware of everyone else. We have an exceptional and caring teaching team who have been working brilliantly together. We have spoken to the children about all the adults who can help them and who are them to make them feel safe. The children have identified that it is not only their class teachers, but Mrs Foster, Patch, Mrs Wilson  and all the lunchtime staff and as one Year One child pointed out “even Miss Mair”. They really do have a lot of adults that they can turn to if they are in need. We talk to children about having Five safe adults that they can talk to.  These include both people at home and at school. Children know that if they ask to speak to their safe adult a time will be made for them to do so. 

 

- Nurture Groups/times

Children are identified by staff or parents and each classes TP runs the 1:1 or small group time.  The focus of this varies from child to child, but can include working on self esteem, friendships and general wellbeing.