Wellbeing
We are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our pupils and staff. We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play.
Good staff wellbeing is essential for cultivating a mentally healthy school, for retaining and motivating staff and for promoting pupil wellbeing and attainment. As school staff juggle a multitude of different tasks and demands, it is important that everyone is given the right emotional and practical support so that they can, in turn, support their pupils.
We are proud, that as part of the Trust, we have signed up to the DfE wellbeing charter and have Miss Jo Littlechild, our SENCo, as our Mental Health Champion. In school both staff and children are supported by Mrs Kerry James who is a trained Mental Health First Aider. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1034032/DfE_Education_Workforce_Welbeing_Charter_Nov21.pdf
In school we follow the Early Help 4 Mental Health (EH4MH) 10 a day tips to keep us mentally well and active. Here is the poster to help remind you of the 10 things you should try and do each day to keep a healthy mind. 10 a day poster You can watch more video clips on each of the 10 tips here: https://normalmagic.co.uk/resources/
We encourage children to be independent, and this includes at breaktime and lunchtime. Should things go wrong on the playground during a game, children have several options available to them, to try and sort out things out on their own, before needing adult help. These are known as Kelso’s choices and a poster of the options to try is here. Kelso’s choices wheel
For more wellbeing information please read here: Wellbeing at West Buckland
At lunchtimes our ‘hub’ is open to any children who need to talk, require some quite time, need a bit of space, or are simply finding play and socialising tricky at that time. In the ‘hub’ children will find a member of staff, games, activities, books and a soft, safe space to sit.