At BJPS we have worked across the school, with all staff to promote the positive mental health and well being of the students and staff in 4 key areas that formed the basis for our well being schools award:
We are building a team of staff who are motivated, resilient and reliable and collectively work together as a cohesive team. Staff well-being impacts on their performance and achieving high levels of staff well-being consistently increases pupil attainment and outcomes, improves pupil well-being and enhances all aspects across our school.
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.
All the teachers at BJPS have been trained in these programs and are facilitating the programs themselves.
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.
Our teachers, Senco, pastoral lead and pastoral lead aim to accurately identify children's needs in order to help them best. We are then able to:
We have weekly pastoral meetings to help target any extraneeds 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.
BJPS are very lucky to be part of the community Wellbeing Project through PaJeS which is a pilet programme for 5 schools in London and us in Manchester. This has given us access to a wide range of training for staff and to these wonderful class based programmes which have been written by experts in the field.
We are very proud to be part of the The Community Wellbeing Piloting Project. It is a JLC/ Pajes -led initiative to address the increasing mental health challenges facing Jewish children and young people today. The Community Wellbeing Project is a 3-year pilot scheme stemming from the advice of an expert panel and commissioned research, which identified that a positive approach to mental health and wellbeing requires an educated partnership between school staff, parents/carers and students, exemplifying the very best of cross-communal collaboration
Our Well Being lead Mrs Reznick has regular training and brainstorming sessions with the Well Being leads in the other piloting schools, they also have access to professionals across the mental health field enabling best practice in leading Well Being in BJPS
We are very proud to be a leading school who is writing up best practice for other schools to access.
To read more about the Community Wellbeing Project please see https://www.thejlc.org/jlc_community_wellbeing_task_force
What is Mental Health? Good mental health helps children:
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 behaviour 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 behaviours 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 behaviours 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 behaviours 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.
Mental health: why it’s important to schools
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.
At Broughton Jewish we take a whole school proactive approach to well being. Our goal is to work with staff, parents and the children in partnership.
Universal Support - Heads Up, Zones of regulation, Sadeh Farm Well Being
Targeted Support- Emotional support were needed, nurture groups, Safe Zone, referrals to outside agencies.
Two of the programs we have brought to the school this year are
and
The teachers have been trained in these programs and are facilitating the programs themselves.
We are currently working on a 'Safe Zone' for children to be able to self refer to discuss any small issues that may occur in school. This will be run by trained staff and only cover very minor issues that may arise.
Staff will be using an approach called 'Solution focused techniques', this enables the child to reach the decision themselves without being told by an adult and work out the best approach to the challenge they are facing. All the staff in school have been trained in this approach.
We will be working on a 3 year pilot program for emotional well being with 5 other Jewish schools
https://www.thejc.com/education/education-news/jewish-leadership-council-to-recruit-wellbeing-practitioners-for-five-jewish-schools-1.472706
The school has a mental health lead as well as 3 mental health champions on staff to lead this exciting project.
At BJPS we are really proud to have our own Well Being book library. We have books for parents and children on a range of well being topics, ranging from friendship to anger, emotions and much more.
We welcome you to take out a book for yourself and your child.
TO BROWSE BOOKS: COPY AND PASTE LINK BELOW: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1S-D56FAZyVamJW-J0EkTpJiBJzzXP_W5
Please access our school's Policies page HERE to access the following documentation:
BJPS Mental health policies
Staff Well Being Policy
Children’s Mental Health Policy
Anti Bullying Policy
Behavioural Policy
Relationships and Health Education Policy
PSHE Progression Map
Well Being Journal
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h3CZ8LC53SeJRR9zMNJVKfKUaMAI4iiX/view?usp=sharing
General Resources for Parents
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
Name of organisation & Telephone number or website
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Key Information