Mental Health & Wellbeing

'WELLBEING IS AT THE HEART OF EVERYTHING THAT WE DO'

When children and young people have good levels of wellbeing it helps them to:

When children and young people look after their mental health and develop their coping skills it can help them to boost their resilience, self-esteem and confidence. It can also help them learn to manage their emotions, feel calm, and engage positively with their education - which can, in turn, improve their academic attainment.  (Anna Freud Centre)

DEFNITIONS:

WELLBEING

Wellbeing is the experience of health, happiness, and prosperity. It includes having good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning or purpose, and ability to manage stress.

More generally, well-being is just feeling well.

MENTAL HEALTH

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. 

The definition of mental health in the national 'No Health without Mental Health' policy is that it is a positive state of mind and body, feeling safe and able to cope, with a sense of connection with people, communities and the wider environment.  (NHS)

Good mental health means being generally able to think, feel and react in the ways that you need and want to live your life. But if you go through a period of poor mental health you might find the ways you're frequently thinking, feeling or reacting become difficult, or even impossible, to cope with. 

One in four adults and one in 10 children experience mental illness, and many more of us know and care for people who do. (NHS)

More than one in 10 primary school children aged five to 10 has an identifiable mental health condition – that’s around three children in every class. (Anna Freud Centre)

Good mental health among children and young people:

When children and young people have good levels of wellbeing it helps them to:

• learn and explore the world
• feel, express and manage positive and negative emotions
• form and maintain good relationships with others
• cope with, and manage, change, setbacks and uncertainty
• develop and thrive

When children and young people look after their mental health and develop their coping skills it can help them to boost their resilience, self-esteem and confidence. It can also help them learn to manage their emotions, feel calm, and engage positively with their education - which can, in turn, improve their academic attainment. (Anna Freud Centre)

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE:

Self-Awareness
Self-Awareness is understanding one’s own emotions and their effect on others. 

Self-Regulation
Self-Regulation is the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses. Essentially, to think before acting. 

Motivation
Motivation is a passion to work with energy and persistence for reasons beyond money or status. 

Empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand the emotional needs of others and to treat them accordingly. 

Social Skill
Social skill is proficiency, managing relationships, developing networks, building rapport, and finding common ground. 

(From the work of Professor Daniel Goleman)

OUR CURRICULUM:

Through coverage of the STATUTORY RSE/PSHE lessons, our pupils will be taught:

• that mental wellbeing is a normal part of daily life, in the same way as physical health.
• that there is a normal range of emotions (e.g. happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, nervousness) and scale of emotions that all humans experience in relation to different experiences and situations.
• how to recognise and talk about their emotions, including having a varied vocabulary of words to use when talking about their own and others’ feelings.
• how to judge whether what they are feeling and how they are behaving is appropriate and proportionate.
• the benefits of physical exercise, time outdoors, community participation, voluntary and service-based activity on mental wellbeing and happiness.
• simple self-care techniques, including the importance of rest, time spent with friends and family and the benefits of hobbies and interests.
• isolation and loneliness can affect children and that it is very important for children to discuss their feelings with an adult and seek support.
• that bullying (including cyberbullying) has a negative and often lasting impact on mental wellbeing.
• where and how to seek support (including recognising the triggers for seeking support), including whom in school they should speak to if they are worried about their own or someone else’s mental wellbeing or ability to control their emotions (including issues arising online).
• it is common for people to experience mental ill health. For many people who do, the problems can be resolved if the right support is made available, especially if accessed early enough.