Positive mental health is promoted and valued: this includes promoting self-esteem, encourage pupils to be confident and help pupils develop emotional resilience through managing setbacks.
Mental Health & Wellbeing
At Birchwood Junior School, we know that our role is to ensure that pupils are able to manage times of change and stress, and that they are supported to reach their potential or access help when they need it. We also have a role to ensure that pupils learn about what they can do to maintain positive mental health, what affects their mental health, how they can help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues, and where they can go if they need help and support.
What is mental health and wellbeing?
To avoid ambiguity or confusion, as a school community we use the World Health Organisation’s definition of mental health and wellbeing “a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community”.
Whole school approach
We take a whole school approach to promoting positive mental health and ensuring the pupil are positive, resilient and able to deal with the stresses of the school day. We recognize the stigma behind talking about mental health and aim to create a school environment which is open and supportive with a positive culture where pupils feel comfortable discussing a range of issues.
Mental health and wellbeing is not just the absence of mental health problems. We want all pupils to:
- Feel confident in themselves and realise their own abilities
- Cope with the stresses of everyday life
- Work productively and being able to learn and achieve
- Be able to express a range of emotions appropriately
- Be able to make and maintain positive relationships with others and make a contribution to their community
- Manage times of stress and be able to deal with change
Our wellbeing aims
Our aim is to help develop the protective factors which build resilience to mental health problems and to be a school where:
- All pupils are valued
- Pupils have a sense of belonging and feel safe
- Pupils feel able to talk openly with trusted adults about their problems without feeling any stigma
- Help pupils socially to form and maintain relationships
- Bullying is not tolerated
- Enable and support early identification of vulnerable pupils and early intervention of need
We promote a mentally healthy environment through:
- Access to a range of appropriate support that meets their needs
- Providing opportunities to reflect both internally and where necessary with an external agency
- Providing opportunities to develop a sense of worth through taking responsibility for themselves and others
- Celebrating academic and non-academic achievements
- Promoting pupil voice and opportunities to participate in decision-making within class and across the school through pupil leadership groups
- Promoting our school values and encouraging a sense of belonging
We pursue our aims through:
- Specialised, targeted approaches aimed at pupils with more complex or long term difficulties including attachment disorder
- Support for pupils going through recent difficulties including bereavement (see Bereavement Policy).
- Universal, whole school approaches
Whole school approach
We aim to create a school environment which is open and supportive with a positive culture through seven aspects:
- Creating an ethos, policies and behaviours that support and promote positive mental health and resilience, and which everyone understands
- Helping pupils to develop social relationships, support each other and to feel able to seek help when they need it
- Helping pupils to be resilient learners who are able to manage the stresses of everyday life
- Teaching pupils social and emotional skills and an awareness of mental health; destigmatize mental health
- Early identification of pupils who have mental health needs and planning support to meet their needs, including working with specialist services and tailored individual plans
- Effectively working with parents and carers
- Supporting and training staff to develop their skills and their own resilience
