Glebe
Junior School
Developing Successful Lives
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Mental Health and Well-Being
Five Steps to Well-Being
Leeds Beckett Carnegie Mental Health Award:
We are excited to announce that we achieved the Bronze award in May 2022. The pastoral support that we offer to our pupils along with the curriculum that we have in place were highly praised. We were incredibly close to receiving the Silver award and this is something we will continue to work towards in the future.
Mental health and well-being:
At Glebe, the mental health and well-being of our children, their families and our staff is extremely important to us. We are proud to provide a supportive, caring and inclusive learning environment where every person feels respected, valued and safe. We strongly believe that nurturing the mental health of our children is important to help them feel emotionally safe and ready to learn.
At Glebe, we work together to promote positive mental health and well-being so that we can provide the children with healthy strategies to cope with changes, emotions and situations that in their lives may be challenging. Your child/ren will have opportunities to discuss, explore and learn about mental-health at a child friendly, age appropriate level in RSHE lessons and in other subject areas.
Throughout the year, we will also support national mental health awareness weeks and we will promote positive mental health and healthy coping strategies in assemblies and in the classroom. At times, it may be appropriate for support staff and teachers to deliver one off lessons / interventions to support pupils with specific needs.
What is mental health?
Everyone has mental health. Being mentally healthy means that we feel good about ourselves, we make and keep positive relationships with others and we can feel and manage a full range of emotions. These can range from happiness, excitement and curiosity and can include less comfortable feelings such as sadness, anger and anxiety.
Good mental health can allow us to cope with life’s challenges, to feel more in control of our own lives and ask for help from others when we need support.
What is well-being?
Well-being is the state of being comfortable, healthy and happy.
Often, life events that are outside of our control, can negatively affect our mental health, and this can be made worse when we feel powerless to do anything about them. There are many ways that we can regain a sense of control and nourish our mental health. One way to do this is to remember the ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’, which have been found in extensive research to improve the mental wellbeing of children and adults.
What are the Five Ways to Wellbeing?
The Five Ways to Wellbeing Framework was developed by the New Economics Foundation as a set of five evidence-based actions that promote well-being. Based on the latest scientific evidence the simple actions, if taken regularly, can improve well-being and enhance quality of life.
Each action can be undertaken individually or collectively as part of everyday activity.
The Five Ways to Wellbeing may help children and young people:
- Make the most of opportunities and deal with stressful situations by taking time out and learning how to cope when things get tough
- Increase their interpersonal skills, empathy and communication skills through giving and seeing themselves as part of the wider community
- Increase their feeling of self-worth by taking notice of what they are good at and what they have to offer others
Let’s help our children and young people to take responsibility for their own wellbeing. The best way to really improve well-being is through understanding that...
‘Well-being is important for me’
‘There are things that I can do to improve my well-being’
Although we can support children and young people to be happy and healthy through the work we do, they have the best chance of being able to stay happy throughout their lives if they learn how to take responsibility for their own well-being inside and outside of school.
Mental Health Team:
Vicky Spender – Senior Mental Health Lead
Beth Torrington – Child Mental Health Lead
Luan Cooke – RSHE Lead
Louise Dove – Mental Health Governor
We work together to monitor the mental health provision in school.
Useful links:
https://www.pookyknightsmith.com/
Strategies that we promote and use in school:
At Glebe, we promote a range of positive, healthy coping strategies to support children with their mental health. All children in school use the Colour Monster’s to identify and explain how they are feeling.
Red – Anger
Blue – Sadness
Yellow – Happiness
Black – Fear / Anxiety
Green – Calm
Pink – Loved
Purple – Mixed.
Other strategies include:
- Opportunities to be mindful (YouTube, Calm, Headspace, Go Noodle)
- Using well-being journals to record feelings which can be shared with adults in school
- Daily 15 minute physical activity
- Breathing exercises (YouTube, Calm, Headspace, Go Noodle)
- Positive Mental Health and Well-being Displays
- Emotional Literacy – The Colour Monster
- Mental Health and Well-being books in classroom and the library
There are lots of great, free, useful mindfulness and breathing exercise activities online. However, there are some, which require a subscription fee.
Remember that mindfulness meditation, at its simplest, is paying attention to what is happening in the present moment. It may be what you’re feeling, hearing, or anything else you notice. There’s no special place of calm you have to reach and it’s not about clearing your mind, it’s just an honest and kind look at what you’re experiencing in this moment.
Useful links: