Emotional, Mental Health and Wellbeing

Who has mental health?

We all have mental health – some people call this emotional health or wellbeing.

What is mental health?

The World Health Organisation defines mental health as a state of wellbeing in which every individual achieves their potential, copes with the normal stresses of life, works productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to their community. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social wellbeing. It affects how we think, feel and act.

Good mental health and wellbeing is just as important as good physical health. Like physical health, mental health can range across a spectrum from healthy to unwell; it can fluctuate on a daily basis and change over time.

Most children grow up mentally healthy, but surveys suggest that more children and young people have problems with their mental health today than 30 years ago. It is thought that this is probably because of changes in the way that we live now and how that affects the experience of growing up.

What helps?

Things that can help keep children and young people mentally well include:

•  Being in good physical health, eating a balanced diet and getting regular exercise
•  Having time and the freedom to play, indoors and outdoors
•  Being part of a family that gets along well most of the time
•  Going to a school that looks after the wellbeing of all its pupils
•  Taking part in local activities for young people.

Other factors are also important, including:

• Feeling loved, trusted, understood, valued and safe
• Being interested in life and having opportunities to enjoy themselves
• Being hopeful and optimistic
• Being able to learn and having opportunities to succeed
• Accepting who they are and recognising what they are good at
• Having a sense of belonging in their family, school and community
• Feeling they have some control over their own life
•  having the strength to cope when something is wrong (resilience) and the ability to solve problems.

At Sandlings Primary school we believe in promoting positive mental health and emotional wellbeing to ensure that the school is a community where everyone feels able to thrive. Our school ethos and values underpin everything that we do. We are committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of pupils, parents, carers, staff and other stakeholders. We have a nurturing, supportive and caring ethos and our approach is respectful and kind, where each individual and contribution is valued. Our Emotional, Mental health and wellbeing policy clearly sets out our school’s approach to promoting positive mental health and wellbeing for all pupils across our school.

Thrive is a therapeutic approach to help support children with their emotional and social development and Mrs Owens is our fully trained practitoner. It is a whole school approach based around current studies of effective learning and current models of child development – in order to help the school to understand the needs being signaled by children’s behaviour.

We recognise that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times and in our setting this includes the challenges faced by pupils due to high mobility as many service pupils attend our school; anyone may need additional emotional support and we take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play.