Well-being Support
Throughout their education, children spend over 7,800 hours at school. With such a huge amount of time spent in the classroom, schools play a central role in promoting the health and well-being of the children within our care. Our curriculum, specifically our ‘Health and Well-being’ Curriculum, aims to ensure our children have the skills to thrive after they have left Heolddu. This includes providing an ideal environment for promoting good emotional well-being; identifying early behavioural changes and signs of mental distress, and giving children the strategies to manage their own emotions effectively.
The social and emotional skills, knowledge, and behaviours that young people learn in the classroom can help them build resilience and set the pattern for how they will manage their mental health throughout their lives.
Emotional well-being is a clear indicator of academic achievement, success, and satisfaction in later life. Evidence shows that mental health and well-being programs in schools can lead to significant improvements in children’s mental health and social and emotional skills. Well-being provision in schools can also lead to reductions in classroom misbehaviour and bullying.
Mental health is a state of well-being, in which an individual realises his or her own ability, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make contributions to his or her own community.
W.H.O, 2014
What is mental health?
How do we promote good mental health and well-being?
Our approach to mental health and well-being aligns with the 5 ways to well-being approach:
1. Give
Showing acts of kindness within the school is supported by our school vision and values. We also support an annual charity through our School Senedd and as part of our positive approach to behaviour management, pupils are also rewarded with ClassCharts points.
2. Connect
Relationships are key to well-being and relationships between staff, at every level, and children are strong. Staff take the time to build relationships with children and their families.
3. Be active
Children to participate in 2 hours of quality PE a week as well a range of extra-curricular programmes
4. Take Notice
Our staff promote well-being activities through Nurture groups and School PSE and well-being weeks. Staff also take notice of changing behaviours within children to ensure early detection and intervention if a problem begins to arise.
5. Keep Learning
Our curriculum is diverse and engaging for children. The schools ‘Health and Well-being curriculum also gives children access to new skills outside of the national curriculum, including outdoor learning in the Duke of Edinburgh award.
What do we do when concerns arise around Mental Health and Well-being?
A pupil's voice is crucial in understanding difficulties in mental health and well-being. As a school, we recognise that no mental health difficulty is the same and that listening to the voice of the child and the family builds the foundation for support. We follow a multi-step approach:
1. Understand the difficulty through talking and listening.
2. Develop an individualised plan to support the child and the family in school and meet regularly to review the plan and the progress.
3. Use interventions if appropriate including:
- Nurture Group
- ELSA time
- Five Point scale etc.
4. Make referrals if necessary, including to SBC, School Nursing Service and Llamau mediation service.
5. Support both the child and the family ensuring parents and carers have the strategies needed at home.
Helping families understand mental health and well-being in children and adults
Anxiety
MIND defines anxiety as:
‘Anxiety is what we feel when we are worried, tense or afraid – particularly about things that are about to happen, or which we think could happen in the future. Anxiety is a natural human response when we perceive that we are under threat. It can be experienced through our thoughts, feelings and physical sensations.’Anxiety is common and everyone experiences anxiety some of the time. Some of the ‘normal’ anxiety children and adolescents may experience is explained in the table below. It is important to note that there is no ‘right’ amount of worry. Worry becomes a problem when it stops an individual from living the life they want to live or leaves them feeling demoralised or exhausted.
| Developmental Age | Normative Fears |
|---|---|
| Infancy (0-2 years) |
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| Early Childhood (3-6 years) |
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| Middle Childhood |
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| Adolescence |
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Mental Health Linked to COVID-19
Some children and young people have enjoyed being off school, while others have found it challenging with the coronavirus outbreak keeping them at home and away from friends. Others may be coming to terms with personal challenges such as loss or changes to their living situation.
As restrictions lift in some places, they might also face difficulties in being back at school or have worries about getting or passing on the virus. It’s also still uncertain what further changes we all may face.
Feelings like these will gradually ease for most, but there are always steps you can take to support them emotionally and help them cope with the problems they face.
(NHS)
On the COVID–19 section of our website, there are several texts that you may wish to share with your child to deepen their understanding of viruses in an age-appropriate way.
What to do if you are finding things challenging:
Parenting or caring for a child or young person can be tough. It’s important to make sure you look after your mental well-being, as this will help you support yourself and those you care about.
Try to recognize and acknowledge when you’re feeling low or overwhelmed. Struggling with something or experiencing mental health problems does not make you a bad parent or carer.
It’s completely normal to be worried, scared, or helpless during difficult times, and feeling this way is nothing to be ashamed of.
Is there a friend, fellow parent, or carer you trust enough to tell how you’re feeling? Maybe there are family, friends, or colleagues who could support you or give you a break. Talk to the school as they could help support you by directing you to help services.
There’s plenty of help out there. You should never feel like you have to cope on your own.
Useful Links to Support Mental Health and Well-being: