We believe that paying more attention to the present moment – to your own thoughts and feelings, and to the world around you.
This can improve your mental wellbeing. This awareness is known as “mindfulness”. Mindfulness can help us to enjoy life more and understand ourselves better. It is proven to improve a child’s ability to focus and can be a great help in times of stress when used as a way to calm down. We believe wellbeing is all about our holistic health including physical and emotional.
At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, we are committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of our pupils and staff to ensure that the school is a community where everyone feels able to thrive. Positive mental wellbeing is essential if children and young people are to flourish and lead fulfilling lives. At our school, we know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times anyone may need additional emotional support. We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play.
Over 50% of mental illnesses start before the age of 14 and 1 in 10 children and young people has a mental health disorder (Public Mental Health, 2014). Recent survey results found that 12.5% (one in eight) of 5 to 19-year olds, surveyed in England in 2017, had a mental disorder (NHS, 2017).
“Mental health is a state of well-being 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.”
(World Health Organization, 2014)
Two key elements to support good mental health are:
- Feeling Good: Experiencing positive emotions like happiness, contentment and enjoyment. Including feelings like curiosity, engagement and safety.
- Functioning Well: How a person is able to function in the world, this includes positive relationships and social connections, as well as feeling in control of your life and having a sense of purpose.
At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, we take our responsibility to nurture and educate your children very seriously, and it is important to us that all pupils feel secure and happy, and that they have the ability to recognise, name and appropriately manage the many different emotions they will experience as they grow up. We are, after all, preparing future citizens of the world!
Please click on the PDF link to see our Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy.
Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy
Please click on the PDF link to see our Mental Health School Audit
At St Mary’s, we recognise that good mental health is as important as good physical health. Our pupils are taught self-care techniques, including recognising and managing emotions, exercise, relaxation and how to build relationships through a rich and varied curriculum. We teach our children how they can help others with their mental health in age appropriate ways. Our mental-health and wellbeing work is guided by our Pupil Wellbeing Principles, which you can read here. We use the DfE's guidance, Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools, as a guide, and work to the their ideals: Our role in school is to ensure that children are able to manage times of change and stress, and that they are supported to reach their potential or access help when they need it. Children are taught when to seek help, what help is available, and the likely outcome of seeking support so that they have the confidence and knowledge for themselves or others. We also have a role to ensure that children learn about what they can do to maintain positive mental health, what affects their mental health and how they can help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues. As part of our targeted provision, we have and continue to access, outside help and support for pupils when required. At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, we believe that teaching about mental health and emotional wellbeing as part of a comprehensive PSHE and Mindup education curriculum is vital. PSHE and Mindup is central to the curriculum across the whole school and assists pupils to cope with the changes at puberty, introduces them to a wider world, manage transitions and enables them to make an active contribution to their communities. The concepts covered in PSHE include keeping safe and managing risk, identity, equality, managing feelings and emotions, relationships, change, resilience and being healthy, which includes physical, mental, emotional and social well-being. We aim to promote pupils’ wellbeing through an understanding of their own and others’ emotions and the development of healthy coping strategies. Good mental health and wellbeing is just as important as good physical health. Like physical health, mental health can range across a spectrum from healthy to unwell; it can fluctuate on a daily basis and change over time. Children at Bell Lane have two lessons of PE each week. A wide range of sport-related after school clubs are run by teachers and external coaches, whilst many of our pupils take part in inter-school sporting competitions which include an extensive range of sports and activities. Our proficient young leaders are excellent at organising activities and games during play times to encourage higher levels of physical activity and promote inclusion. We include World Mental Health Day and Mental Health Awareness Week in the school calendar and plan activities for the whole school. At our school we: Should you need any help or advice regarding issues around mental health and well-being please do not hesitate to contact us at school. Universal Support: Additional support: Targeted support: There are a number of ways in which pupils voice has an authentic position in the school's strategic school improvement. There are a number of peer-led opportunities and children have a significant involvement in decision making and using responses from pupil questionnaires to decide on how to design particular learning activities. We all have mental health: Mental health is about our feelings, our thinking, our emotions and our moods. Looking after our mental health is important. We all have small feelings every day: These sometimes feel strong and overwhelming, whether happy or sad, but they usually go away before too long. Sometimes we experience big feelings: These feel strong and overwhelming for a long time. They stop us doing what we want to in our lives. Sometimes the smallest thing can make a difference as well as the big things! Remember these are not only linked to Mental Health! There could be numerous reasons for these behaviours: General approaches - ETHOS Daily Check in … The children say how they are feeling as soon as they step into the classroom … Targeted Approaches Individual Support: Practical activities: Focus on listening: Let them talk. Ask occasional open questions if you need to in order to encourage them to keep exploring their feelings and opening up to you. Just letting them pour out what they’re thinking will make a huge difference and marks a huge first step in recovery. Don’t pretend to understand: The concept of a mental health difficulty can seem completely alien if you’ve never experienced these difficulties first hand. You may find yourself wondering why on earth someone would feel like this, but don’t explore those feelings with the sufferer. Instead listen hard to what they’re saying and encourage them to talk and you’ll slowly start to understand what steps they might be ready to take in order to start making some changes. Don’t be afraid to make eye contact: It’s important to try to maintain a natural level of eye contact (even if you have to think very hard about doing so and it doesn’t feel natural to you at all). If you make too much eye contact, your child may interpret this as you staring at them. They may think that you are horrified about what they are saying or think they are a ‘freak’. On the other hand, if you don’t make eye contact at all then your child may interpret this as you being disappointed with them – to the extent that you can’t bring yourself to look at them. Making an effort to maintain natural eye contact will convey a very positive message. Offer support: Never leave this kind of conversation without agreeing next steps. This could be as straightforward as speaking to another family member, contacting an organisation or speaking to us. Acknowledge how hard it is to discuss these issues: Acknowledging both how brave they have been, and how glad you are they chose to speak to you, conveys positive messages of support. Don’t assume that an apparently negative response is actually a negative response: Don’t be offended or upset if your offers of help are met with anger, indifference or insolence, it’s whatever is worrying them that is talking, not your child. Never break your promises: Above all else, your child wants to know they can trust you. You can also be honest about the fact you don’t have all the answers or aren’t exactly sure what will happen next. Think about which next steps you can take together St Mary’s is currently undertaking ‘The Wellbeing Award for Schools’. The aim of this journey is to promote positive social and emotional wellbeing, mental health and wellness for pupils and staff in our school. To develop our approach to mental health and wellbeing. Developed in partnership with the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), the Wellbeing Award for Schools is intended to help schools prepare and equip themselves to promote emotional wellbeing and positive mental health across the whole-school community. There are four key principles driving the ideas and recommendations behind the award: There are five stages in the WAS process and the school will be supported throughout in order to evidence best practice and to achieve the award: The award is expected to be achieved within a maximum of 12-15 months. Within this timescale, the process is supportive, developmental and progressive, rather than a box-ticking, target driven exercise. The WAS has 8 objectives which focus on areas of evaluation, development and celebration of the work of schools in promoting and protecting emotional wellbeing and positive mental health. Each of these areas is further broken down into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Objective 1: The school is committed to promoting and protecting positive emotional wellbeing and mental health by achieving the Wellbeing Award for Schools. Objective 2: The school has a clear vision and strategy for promoting and protecting emotional wellbeing and mental health, which is communicated to all involved with the school. Objective 3: The school has a positive culture which regards the emotional wellbeing and mental health as the responsibility of all. Objective 4: The school actively promotes staff emotional wellbeing and mental health. Objective 5: The school prioritises professional learning and staff development on emotional wellbeing and mental health. Objective 6: The school understands the different types of emotional and mental health needs across the whole-school community and has systems in place to respond appropriately. Objective 7: The school actively seeks the ongoing participation of the whole school community in its approach to emotional wellbeing and mental health Objective 8: The school works in partnerships with other schools, agencies and available specialist services to support emotional wellbeing and mental health To deliver community based direct and indirect services including advice, assessments, diagnostic service and intervention for children and young people experiencing mental health and emotional problems, or learning disabilities and their carers/families We offer a range of therapeutic services for children, young people and their families who experience moderate to severe emotional/mental health problems, including direct and indirect clinical work through consultation and training. Direct therapeutic work offered includes cognitive behavioural therapy, group work, play therapy and family therapy. Multi-disciplinary teams may include child psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, primary mental health workers and administrators. Services are provided by Tees, Esk and Wear Valley Foundation NHS Trust. Care is: High quality encompasses: Access to service is via: CAMHS Single Point of Access Referral Email Address: tewv.camhscountydurhamdarlington@nhs.net Telephone Number: 0300 123 9296 Address for referrals: The Mulberry Centre, The Rowan Building, Darlington Memorial Hospital, Hollyhurst Road, Darlington, DL3 6HX Before discussing a child or young person with a CAMHS practitioner, we would ask that you always gain permission from their parent or guardian. If a young person is aged 16 or over you can get permission from them directly, however it is usually advisable that the parent or guardian is made aware. You can discuss a child or young person with us without giving their name. However, before making a formal referral, the referrer should gain the consent of the young person and/or responsible parent/guardian. Children, young people up to their 18th birthday, (and their families) with Mental Health needs or distress which is impacting upon their day-to-day functioning and cannot be resolved with appropriate intervention by Universal and Targeted Services within Health, Local Authority Prevention Service; the Common Assessment Framework process; Social Care; Education Services and the Voluntary Sector. Our Community teams also provide high quality, specialist multi-disciplinary assessment, diagnosis and intervention for children and young people with learning disabilities and their families. Presenting problems may include: PLEASE NOTE REFERALS FOR THE FOLLOWING WHERE THERE IS NO EVIDENCE IN THE REFERAL OF MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES WE WOULD NOT ACCEPT THESE REFERALS INTO SERVICE. PLEASE HAVE A DISCUSSION WITH THE SINGLE POINT OF ACCESS TEAM, IF OTHER INTERVENTIONS HAVE BEEN TRIED. Factors to consider when deciding to refer: Other factors to consider prior to considering CAMHS are: All CAMHS teams operate an open referral system, i.e. anyone concerned about a child or young person’s emotional / mental health can access the services. This includes self-referrals from the child/young person themselves or their parent/carer. We encourage all referrals to be made using the service’s referral form, with these being emailed from a secure email address to the email address on the top of the form; or through a consultation/phone conversation with a member of the CAMHS Single Point of Access Service. The NSPCC has created a number of resources to support parents and carers during this difficult time. Topics include: The advice can be found on the NSPCC website here: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/coronavirus-advice-suppport-children-families-parents/
To meet the needs of all our pupils through our overall ethos, school values and our wider curriculum. For instance, developing resilience for all.
For those who may have short-term needs and those who may have been made vulnerable by life experiences such as separation or bereavement.
For pupils who need more differentiated support and resources or specific targeted interventions such referral to wider professionals.
What is Mental Health?
What can influence children’s mental health?
What can it look like?
What do we do at school to support positive mental health?
What can you do at home to support positive mental health?
What are the 8 objectives we want to achieve?
CAMHs Referral Process
Confidentiality and Consent
Referral Criteria
Who can refer?
