Well-being and Mental Health at Grouville School
Article 24 - All children have the right to high quality health. |
"It is vital that when educating our children’s brains, we do not neglect to educate their hearts." – Dalai Lama
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How do we promote well-being at Grouville School?
Here at Grouville school we are passionate about the well-being of our students and staff. From daily practice of Relax Kids meditations to Well-Being Wednesdays, ELSA provision to tapping, we whole-heartedly believe that looking after the children’s well-being is fundamental to enabling them to be in the best place to learn.
Mental Health First Aider: Mrs Day-Crawford
Hi I am Sarah Day-Crawford and I am a Mental Health First Aider (MHFA)
I have always been interested in supporting positive mental wellbeing and the importance of this our everyday lives. I was lucky enough to be able to go on a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England two-day course which taught me how to identify, understand and help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue. We did not learn how to be a therapist, but how to listen, reassure and respond, even in a crisis.
It showed me how to develop the skills and confidence to approach and support someone who needs assistance. This may just be a listening ear or could be empowering someone to access any further support which they need which could include self help groups, websites talking to their GP etc.
I am proud to be part of the Wellbeing Team at Grouville School. Please come and see me if you need support. My office is by the school main entrance, next door to Mrs Turner's office.
I have always been interested in supporting positive mental wellbeing and the importance of this our everyday lives. I was lucky enough to be able to go on a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England two-day course which taught me how to identify, understand and help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue. We did not learn how to be a therapist, but how to listen, reassure and respond, even in a crisis.
It showed me how to develop the skills and confidence to approach and support someone who needs assistance. This may just be a listening ear or could be empowering someone to access any further support which they need which could include self help groups, websites talking to their GP etc.
I am proud to be part of the Wellbeing Team at Grouville School. Please come and see me if you need support. My office is by the school main entrance, next door to Mrs Turner's office.
Well-being Wednesdays
We celebrated Children's Mental Health Week with the theme of Let's connect by each designing a hand which are all linked together around our school hall to remind us of our supportive community. We also have considered what a mentally health school should look like building on our work with Anna Freud. We used our most recent Well-being Wednesday to gather ideas for a very special outdoor sensory area that all children will be able to access to support their mental health and well-being. Watch this space for updates.
Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA)
We have a fabulous ELSA team in school who work with children either individually or in groups focusing on areas like friendships, managing emotions and understanding feelings.
Well-being and Mindfulness Activities..
Always take a moment to reflect and breathe. We use Relax Kids at school to help settle back into the afternoons and we try various breathing activities, such as finger breathing to relax us.
There are many activities on the ELSA support website.
There are also some fantastic books to have a look at.
Well-being and Mindfulness Activities..
Always take a moment to reflect and breathe. We use Relax Kids at school to help settle back into the afternoons and we try various breathing activities, such as finger breathing to relax us.
There are many activities on the ELSA support website.
There are also some fantastic books to have a look at.
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Pupil Voice Groups promoting well-being...
Our Well-being team and the Kindness Crew
The well-being team (a group of children across the school led by Mrs Watts) and The Kindness Crew ( a group of children across the school led by Mrs Mac and Mrs Weeks) are working hard to spread the 'Be kind' message around school. .
Our crew work closely with the well-being pupil voice team and did a joint assembly to explain who they are and what they are all about. Looking forward they want to create kindness benches in the playground, create a weekly kindness mascot to hand out to classes or individuals who champion being kind, and are coming up with other ideas to colour our world with kindness. |
"In a world where you can be anything, be kind." |
Our children are also so lucky to have the support of Yolanda Saez Castello from 'Tap It Better' who joins us for weekly tapping sessions - some of these sessions are open for all children to join in the playground to just 'tap' when they feel they wish to and other sessions are small focus groups.
Our children at Grouville thoroughly enjoy the weekly drop-in sessions in the playground, where they will approach "the tapping lady" if they are feeling like they need a bit of a boost. Every class has had an experience of how tapping works, and there have been highly successful focus groups too! |
Parent Introduction |
"Also known as "tapping", Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) has been an integral part of wellbeing strategies in many schools for years now. They are effective, non-invasive, drug-free and safe for use on children and adults and are scientifically proven to reduce cortisol, a main stress hormone, which results in more calmer feeling, more focus and better learning. NHS Guidelines
The attached videos are here to remind our children how to use tapping to help themselves feel better, relax, relate to others better, learn better, or even sleep better.
Yolanda, 'the tapping lady' x
The attached videos are here to remind our children how to use tapping to help themselves feel better, relax, relate to others better, learn better, or even sleep better.
Yolanda, 'the tapping lady' x
Tapping for KS1 (EYFS and 5-7) |
Tapping for KS2 (7-11) |
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Well-being at home
Talking to our children about there well-being and enabling them to share and normalise any feelings they are having will help support their mental health.
Place2Be is a fantastic organisation championing the issue of children’s mental health, and they have some brilliant information for talking to children and top tips to look after everyone’s mental health.
We are fortunate to have lots of links with others in the community who champion well-being, and we work together to help make sure that our children’s well-being is being looked after. A big thank you to Tina Hesse for signposting the following:
Place2Be is a fantastic organisation championing the issue of children’s mental health, and they have some brilliant information for talking to children and top tips to look after everyone’s mental health.
We are fortunate to have lots of links with others in the community who champion well-being, and we work together to help make sure that our children’s well-being is being looked after. A big thank you to Tina Hesse for signposting the following:
Mindfulness and Relaxation
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