We have ensured that the emotional wellbeing of our whole school community has been our priority, particularly over this challenging Covid period.
Whole School Approach & Ethos
Wellbeing Education Sessions
Supporting Individual Children
Staff Wellbeing
Parent Partnership
Whole School Approach at BJPS
At BJPS we have worked across the school, with all staff to promote the positive mental health and wellbeing of the students and staff in 4 key areas that formed the basis for our wellbeing schools award:
1, STAFF WELLBEING AND ETHOS
We are continuously working to build a team of staff who are motivated, resilient and reliable and collectively work together as a cohesive team. Within school We have four mental health and wellbeing champions who support staff wellbeing. Ultimately, improving staff wellbeing improves pupil wellbeing which enhances all aspects across our school.
2, WHOLE SETTING AND CLASSROOM PRACTICE
At BJPS we believe that just like we teach our children Maths and English it is vitally important that we teach our children about their emotions and basic coping skills to help them manage with life’s day-to-day challenges.
These are the wellbeing sessions that we teach in BJPS:
Heads up – from EYFS - Year 6 https://www.norwood.org.uk/pages/what-we-do/heads-up-kids/
Zones of Regulation
All the teachers at BJPS have been trained in these programs and are facilitating the programs themselves.
Our targeted support at BJPS that is in place;
Emotional 1.1 support for individual children, small nurture groups, our SEND and Wellbeing learning hub, referrals to outside agencies.
We aspire to have a happy, calm and positive classroom - this is the foundation on which we are able to teach and help our students to thrive and succeed. A classroom encouraging positive emotions widens thought, improves creativity, and most importantly, improves academic achievement.
3, ASSESSING CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S NEEDS
Our Teachers, Sendco, Pastoral Lead and BAPD team aim to accurately identify children's needs in order to help them best. We are then able to:
clearly identify the child’s needs
highlight which interventions will help the child make the most progress
Aid referrals to additional and targeted services, where necessary
4, SUPPORTING INDIVIDUAL CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
We have weekly pastoral meetings to help target any extra needs that children may have. We work with teachers to provide them with the best support for the specific children in their class, we also signpost children who need extra help.
learn and explore the world
feel, understand, express and manage a range of positive and negative emotions
form and maintain good relationships with others
cope with, and manage change and uncertainty
develop and thrive.
Building strong mental health early in life can help children build their self-esteem, learn to settle themselves and engage positively with their education. This, in turn, can lead to improved academic attainment, enhanced future employment opportunities and positive life choices.
Schools can support these children by providing them with additional help to understand and manage their thoughts, feelings and behavior and build skills that help them to thrive, such as working in a team, persistence, and self-awareness.
Mental health doesn’t mean being happy all the time. Neither does it mean avoiding stress altogether. Coping and adjusting to setbacks are critical life skills for children, but it’s important that they develop positive, rather than negative, coping skills.
Negative coping skills are attitudes and behaviors that have often been learned in the absence of positive support and in the face of stressful and often traumatic events and experiences which, over time, may put good mental health at risk.
Example: children at risk of or experiencing maltreatment in the home may have learned to react quickly and in a certain way (flight or fight or freeze) to survive and keep themselves safe. But in a classroom, these reactions may not work well and could get them into trouble, disrupt learning and make them unpopular with teachers and peers. In the longer term, these learned behaviors may also impact on their mental health and wellbeing, sense of belonging, educational achievements, peer relationships and life chances.
Positive coping skills are ways of thinking, attitudes and behaviors that allow children to deal with stress or adversity and which help them flourish. These positive coping skills form an important part of a child’s ability to be resilient in the face of setbacks and challenges. Children who have cultivated robust coping skills can still thrive with support, even when they are mentally unwell.
A child’s mental health is influenced by many things over time.
Children have different personalities and they will be exposed to a range of factors in their homes and communities that can trigger worsening mental health (risk factors), or alternatively protect them and help them feel able to cope (protective factors). Ideally, all children should have at least one adult in their life who is monitoring whether they are coping or not.
We are not expecting our school staff to become mental health experts. Schools are the ideal environment in which to promote and support the mental health of primary age children, ensuring they can reach their potential and take advantage of opportunities throughout their lives:
Most children spend a significant amount of time in school and school staff are in a good position to piece together the jigsaw of what may be undermining a child’s mental health.
Parents also tend to approach schools first for advice when children experience mental health challenges.
There is strong evidence that school programmes which promote social and emotional skills can improve mental health and academic attainment.
Children with good mental health are more positive, settled and can achieve better academically.
Early help can also prevent unnecessary crises, poor life chances and significant costs affecting the public purse.
Below are some useful websites;
22 of our BJPS pupils from year 4, 5 and 6, took part in an anti bullying ambassador training program in a whole day training
The program is part of the Diana Award, sponsored by Nationwide. They learnt how to tackle bullying, how to be a mentor to the other students in school and above all how to lead anti bullying programs and bring the other students on board to ensure our whole school becomes a place of zero tolerance to bullying.
The Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme equips students and staff with the tools needed to tackle bullying behavior head on, transform our school’s approach to anti-bullying and create a safer, kinder school community. The program is led by our students, who will lead their anti-bullying campaign as Anti-Bullying Ambassadors.
.JPG)
.JPG)
(1).JPG)
(1).JPG)
(1).JPG)
(1).JPG)
Please access our school's Policies page HERE to access the following documentation:
BJPS Mental health policies
Staff Wellbeing Policy
Children’s Mental Health Policy
Anti Bullying Policy
Behavioral Policy
Relationships and Health Education Policy
General resources for parents
Well Being Journal
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h3CZ8LC53SeJRR9zMNJVKfKUaMAI4iiX/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/13IY_TswwBlkmwdsGqjXLBTUNC6yOZB08
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J0bZuM7e6cIBCXB2D19tUcdhdK3qduOb/view?usp=sharing
https://openvieweducation.co.uk/child-wellbeing-guide-parents/
Calming music
http://www.viewpure.com/1ZYbU82GVz4?start=0&end=0
Sources of further information, support and help. (Please note: we are not endorsing any of the following, we are purely providing further information).
https://www.princehenrys.co.uk/_site/data/files/pdfs/97EF3EC9CE93DDD26AD6851AFB2821C2.pdf
For general advice and parenting tips please see this website:
https://parentingsmart.
Name of organisation & Telephone number or website
|
If anyone has any questions regarding wellbeing at BJPS to please contact the Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead,
Mrs Anderson through the school office. The school office's telephone number and email address are available on the ‘contact us page’ of this website.
Thank you.
Key Information