Welcome to our Mental Health and Wellbeing page. Mental Health and Wellbeing is an essential part of the curriculum at Mulbarton Primary School. We aim to ensure that children are taught tips and techniques to manage their wellbeing and support their ongoing mental health.

This page will aim to highlight the mental health offer to support children in our school.

The Whole School

Every class has access to a variety of teaching resources to improve emotional literacy and wellbeing. Class teachers will engage the children in short activities to promote discussion and aid calm and relaxation. These will vary from class to class, but below are some examples of activities to promote wellbeing.

• Glitter jar
• Yoga
• Guided relaxation
• 5 finger breathing
• Lemons muscle relaxation

Every classhas a time to talk box or worry monster which the children can independently access. The younger children can put their photo into the monster if they would like to talk. Time to talk boxes and worry monsters are checked daily.

Low level support

The majority of children are able to manage their wellbeing with the tools provided in class. We acknowledge that some children will require short term support to manage their mental health. All school adults offer a flexible approach to managing emotions. Some children will need daily time to talk with a class adult or a morning task to aid transition into the classroom. Teachers and teaching assistants appreciate the importance of flexibility in the curriculum to allow for these activities to take place. We are keen to work with parents to ensure a unified approach.

Targeted intervention

Some children require additional support to manage their mental health. There are many reasons a child may need to access intervention including the following:

• Low self esteem
• Body positivity
• Bereavement
• Managing worries/anxiety
• Anger management

At Mulbarton Primary School there are two ways we can support this intervention:

1. Life coaching

Every week an independent life coach visits the school. He has a wealth of experience with supporting mental health. He will meet with children from Key Stage 2 as identified by school adults. Each session will last for approximately 30 minutes once a week and will be regularly reviewed to check it is having an impact for the child.

2. Nurture

At Mulbarton Primary School we run our own nurture group. This runs alongside the main school and children access it for individual or group sessions. We have a separate mobile classroom dedicated to nurture where the children can access a range of different resources to support their sessions.

Under the nurture umbrella we also run more formal interventions such as Socially Speaking, Zones of Regulation and Lego Therapy. The children attending these groups will be decided by the Sendco in consultation with the class teachers.

Nurture sessions usually run in the afternoons, and we have a nurture lead and a nurture assistant who support these sessions.

As with all interventions, they are regularly reviewed to ensure they are having an impact and meeting the individual needs of the children.

 

Staff have clear systems to report any mental health concerns. The Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) meet weekly to discuss the needs of the children and where appropriate coordinate support.

We have introduced a regular newsletter to promote mental health and wellbeing with the families in our school community.

Several year groups from year 2 upwards access regularly access our Forest School provision. We are developing our Forest School offer to include sessions to promote self-esteem and confidence.

There is a weekly gardening club open to all children in school. The children enjoy tending to the plot and growing vegetables together.

We acknowledge that lunchtime can be challenging for some children, and they can find the playground overwhelming. We offer a daily relaxation club which each year group from year 2 upwards can access once a week. This space offers a calm environment where children can engage in mindfulness and calming activities as well as the opportunity to play games.