Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing
Supporting Mental Wellbeing
At Willingdon Primary School, it is our aim to help develop confident, positive and compassionate children who are well equipped to live and explore the local, national and global community in which we live. To do this, children need to have opportunities to develop in all areas of their personal and social, cultural and emotional lives. They need to learn about the environment they live in and why we need to protect it, become creative thinkers who are resilient enough to overcome challenges, see reward in effort and feel value in making mistakes in order to develop and grow as lifelong learners.
Our key purpose is to support children to grow as individuals and have positive self-esteem and self-image by ensuring children’s all round wellbeing. We do this by:
- Teaching children that they can have a growth mind-set approach to learning which means knowing how and when you can learn from your mistakes, that you can always learn something new no matter how old you are!
- Teaching children mindful ways to help them increase focus in learning, manage their emotions appropriately and learn about their brains in order for optimum learning.
- Teaching children that gratitude is the best attitude and with a kind, caring and optimistic approach to life we can all achieve and be the best we can be.
THRIVE supports children with their emotional health, well being and social skills, all of which are needed to enable learning to take place. Children cannot always put their needs into words, but the way children behave can tell us a lot about how they are feeling. For some children there may be an obvious reason why they need extra support. This might be due to bereavement, family break down or an identified medical condition. For others, there may not be any obvious trigger as to why they are finding some aspects of school and/or home life difficult.
The Thrive approach draws on the latest research from current neuroscience, recent attachment research, current studies of effective learning and current models of child development, in order to help us to understand the needs being signalled by children’s behaviour. Working with parents and class teachers, our THRIVE practitioners carry out assessments of identified children’s social, emotional and behavioural needs which help us to build an Action Plan of targeted strategies and activities to help children re-engage with learning and life.
Helpful Resources
Supporting Children Traumatic Events Anna Freud Leaflet - Never too Young to TalkFeeling Good Activity BookParent/Carer Leaflet
Click here to view guidance around managing anxiety.
Please see below some links to websites which offer support and advice around mental health and emotional wellbeing. Thank you.
https://www.sussexcamhs.nhs.uk/
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/
https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/
