Mental Health and Well-being Statement
Good mental health and well-being are essential for all of us to lead fulfilling lives, to realise our full potential, to participate productively in our communities, and to demonstrate resilience in the face of stress and adversity.
(World Health Organisation, 2021)
| Intent |
| The team at Fairhaven Primary are passionate about making a difference to the lives of young people. We believe in teamwork: working with each other, with teachers and colleagues across the school, with the wider school community and most importantly with the children in our school. We act with care and resilience. Whatever issues our pupils, their families, the school, our team, or the community face, we always support, respond and pull together. Just like physical health, we recognise that mental health is a crucial factor in overall well-being and can affect a child’s learning and achievement. We seek to foster a culture of excellent learning behaviours and ensure that our pupils are taught the social and emotional skills, and knowledge needed to achieve and become the very best they can be. We see ourselves as active participants who can and do make a real difference. We believe that by supporting positive mental health in this way, we can enable children to set the course for how they will manage their mental health and well-being throughout their lives. These reflect the school’s curriculum intent and core values. Our moral purpose can therefore be summarised with the words: belief, friendship, diversity, achievement. What inclusion and positive mental health provision mean to us: *Safeguarding our children comes above everything we do. With annual training, staff know the behaviour, attendance and safeguarding policies and protocols. *When children are here, we can support and educate them – attendance matters. *A happy and supported staff team is important for quality teaching, we value our staff’s mental health as much as our children’s. *We make reasonable adjustments for children with special educational needs or vulnerable pupils. |
| Implementation |
| We provide opportunities for children to learn how to stay mentally healthy, how stress and worries can affect their mental health, develop understanding and empathy of those with mental health issues, and knowledge of who they can go to if they need support. We provide universal provision for ALL children, selected early interventions for vulnerable children, and targeted intensive support for children identified as having a mental health disorder. At Fairhaven, we offer strategies to support your child including: *a positive behaviour policy built on our school values, which celebrates and praises expected behaviour and focuses on restorative conversations where necessary; *a PSHE curriculum designed to support children’s understanding of their emotions; *school values interwoven throughout the curriculum and quality teaching for all (including personalised delivery and outcomes expected for individuals); *Well-being Monday’s including whole school assemblies centred around a theme; *time out of the classroom including visits to the wildlife garden to support emotional regulation; *class targets and rewards to create a sense of ‘class team’ and belonging; *opportunities for pupil voice – we involve children in the decision making and allow them to contribute to what we do in school; *evidence based practice for a range of interventions; *collaboration with external agencies to support children and their families. |
| Impact |
| The impact of learning and support provided in school will ensure that children: *Know what they can do to maintain positive mental health; *Know what affects their mental health; *Know how they can help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues; *Know where or who they can go to if they need help and support; *Feel successful in their learning and able to achieve. |
