BJCFPS are working on a whole school approach towards emotional well-being. This includes all staff, pupils and parents. Our goal is to work as a partnership in helping the students become the best versions of themselves.
We are proud that BJPS has been accredited as an “Emotionally Friendly School”. In order to achieve this accreditation, we have worked across the whole school to promote positive mental health and wellbeing for pupils and staff members alike as well as working in partnership with parents.
We have ensured that the emotional wellbeing of our whole school community has been our priority, particularly over the challenging Covid period.
Here are the ways that we ensure emotional wellbeing is brought into BJPS:
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.
Both secular and kodesh staff 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 Well-being 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 SLT, SMT, 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 a weekly pastoral meeting 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.
Good Mental Health helps children to;
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, self-worth, self-love, learn to settle themselves and engage positively with their education. This, in turn, can lead to improved academic attainment, enhanced future 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.
Coping Skills
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 learnt 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.
Children may react quickly in a situation when exposed to uncomfortable feelings. Their reactions may mimic learnt behaviour and therefore may become dysregulated; flight, fight or freeze response to survive and keep themselves safe. In a classroom, these reactions may not work well and could disrupt learning, make poor relationships with teachers and peers, which can then impact on their mental health and wellbeing, sense of belonging, educational achievements, relationships and life chances.
Positive coping strategies are actions that you take to manage and reduce stress in your life, in a way that isn't going to be harmful or detrimental in the long term. They are healthy ways of thinking that enable children to deal with stress or adversity which help them flourish. These positive coping strategies 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 mental health concerns arise.
What affects a child's Mental Health?
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 is it 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.
Below are some useful websites;
WELLBEING & ME AWARD
Mrs Anderson (Pastoral and Mental Health Lead) and Miss Ballin (Year 3 Teacher and Assistant Behaviour Lead) were proud attendees at the ‘Wellbeing & Me’ PAJES award ceremony. During the ceremony they presented how the school has moved forward, enabling Mental Health, Behaviour and Personal Development to become the forefront of children’s education.
BJPS believes that all children must feel emotionally secure through their own regulation supported by adults before they can access their day to day curriculum.
Mrs Anderson and Miss Ballin were delighted to accept the award on behalf of every member of staff at BJPS who have been on this journey together and look forward to continued growth.
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Our Anti-bullying Ambassadors:
15 of our BJPS pupils from year 5 and 6, took part in an Anti-Bullying Ambassadors training program.
The program is part of the Princess Diana Award, sponsored by Nationwide. The children learnt how to tackle bullying, how to be a mentor to the other students in school and above all how to lead anti-bullying programmes and bring the other students on board to ensure our whole school becomes a place of zero tolerance to bullying. Our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors have now trained some of our year 4 students to join them with this program.
The Anti-Bullying Ambassador Program 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 programme is led by our Mental Health and Well-Being Lead Mrs Anderson and Personal Development Lead Mrs Rose where monthly meetings are held with the anti-bullying ambassadors.
Our Wellbeing Policies:
Please access our school's policies page HERE to access the following documentation:
General resources for parents:
Well Being Journal:
Calming music:
More Information;
Sources of further information, support and help.
Please note; we are not endorsing any of the following, we are purely providing further information.
Upcoming Event;
Please see the attached flyer for a BJPS parent event, organised by our school's Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead Mrs Anderson.
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Emotion Coaching - Update from the team's successful information evening:
Thank you to Mrs Anderson and Miss Ballin for their dedication, commitment, time and work which went into such a successful Emotion Coach evening on Sunday night. We are sure that parents gained much knowledge from the evening and is just another example of how our home school partnership work together for the good of our children.
Another Successful Parent Training:
On Wednesday 29th November 2023, Mrs Anderson & Miss Ballin delivered another parent training on Emotion Coaching. They delved into what Emotion Coaching is, the science behind it, how it works and the benefits of using it. This is a practice that we as a school are trained in, use and links in with our behavior policy. We hope that the tools, techniques and strategies that were discussed will support parents further in their own journey. We look forward to delivering more parent sessions in the future supporting our home-school partnership.
Children's Mental Health Week:
If anyone has any questions regarding Mental Health and Wellbeing at BJPS, 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.
