Mental health and wellbeing
At Birstwith Primary School, we pride ourselves on an inclusive ethos which puts children's mental health and wellbeing at the very centre of what we do. Post-pandemic, more children than ever are processing the effect that this event has had and will continue to have on their lives. Because of this, we have tried to weave as much research and practice into our every day school lives as we can to ensure that the children at our school feel supported to do their very best. We believe that bringing out the best in children should include the whole child - the character, personality and skills that build a whole person. Teaching children to look after themselves physcially and mentally is a huge part of our PSHCE curriculum and forms the ethos which surrounds out children every day.
What does this look like?
At Birstwith Primary School, our children are surrounded by staff who are trained in emotion coaching and who are well-versed in managing calm and creative classrooms. We ensure that positive classroom environments are provided to every child, so that they feel safe and secure in giving things a try in class. We have daily mental health check ins and discuss things that are bothering us. Unconditional positive regard ensures that children feel they can speak openly to any staff member and children are reminded of their safeguarding rights and the right come forward if something in their lives doesn't feel right.
Emotion Coaching
The wonderful Marianne Doonan has also been training all the staff at Bristwith School in emotion coaching. This method of conflict resoultion and emotional communication opens up it's impact by allowing two people to connect and discuss their emotions using three simple steps: regulate, relate, reason. This technique encourages children to become more independent in regulating their big feelings and discussing their problems with someone who can help. Our mental health and wellbeing ambassadors are also looking to be trained in using this technique, so they can help other children on the playground using their feelings fans.
Break Break!
As part of our school day, children have the opportunity to take part in theraputic intervention time - a.k.a. Brain Break! During this time, the children can choose an activity that they would like to take part in to boost a skill, get active, or take some time for themselves. We offer a wide range of different activities including: the daily mile, colouring, yoga, music, or catching up with the news in our Newsround session. This element of choice allows children to choose an activity to enhance their mindfullness and wellbeing at their own pace, with a wide range of different activities available to choose from each day.
Hello Yellow Day 2024
For World Mental Health Day 2024 we took part in 'Hello Yellow' Day. We all wore something happy and yellow, and took part in lots of different activities throughout the day, considering how each one had a positive impact on our wellbeing. We took part in yoga, sang our hearts out to our favourite songs and took part in a doodling workshop with The Doodle Boy!
Children's Mental Health Week - Live Assembly through PictureNews
This week, as part of Children's Mental Health Week, we have taken part in a special live assembly. The theme this year is 'Know ourselves, Grow Ourselves'.
As a school, we learned how mental health affects how we think about things and whether we can realise our full potential. That, just like physical health, everyone has mental health that needs taking care of. Ways of doing this include:
- Ensuring enough sleep
- Eating a healthy diet
- Keeping active
- Spending time with family and friends
- Developing new skills
The children were encouraged to think about news items we have talked about in Collective Worship and what emotions they evoked. Emilia in Year 6 said that the article regarding people finding places and clubs, where they felt they fitted in and felt less isolated, made her feel happy. They were then asked if they had ever discovered anything about themselves when learning about the news. Ava in Year 5 said that from watching news articles she has realised how lucky we are in Birstwith, compared to others in the world. The snow falling in the Sahara made Olivia, in Year 6, angry. She feels upset that humans have caused climate change. Whereas Hector, also in Year 6, was inspired when he heard about the darts player, Luke Littler, and how successful he was at such a young age. Hector is now determined to try his hardest. The children found the assembly extremely thought provoking and the content led to further debate and interesting discussion.
We were extremely proud of the thoughtfulness of our children and their excellent contributions to discussions.
