Mental Health and Wellbeing at St James
Our Mental Health Lead is Mrs A reay.
Mental health and wellbeing plays a vital role in education and impacts on our pupils learning. Here at St James Primary School we are committed to developing and safeguarding pupils emotional wellbeing and promoting good physical and mental health.
Wellbeing Programmes at St James
We have put together four programmes to support our children.
The programmes are as follows:
The Friendship Feeling. This focuses on friendship, social skills and team work.
Keeping Your Cool. This looks at feelings, getting angry and strategies to deal with frustration and anger.
The Chill Out Club. This programme discusses stress and anxiety. It looks at ways to relax and keep calm.
The Feel Good Group. These sessions look at confidence, believing in yourself and building up self- esteem.
These programmes are run by a member of the wellbeing team. Each lesson will last between 30 to 45 minutes.
Elsa at St James
We have a dedicated member of our team who is trained in expertly delivering Elsa programmes. Mrs Gallagher carries out social skills, confidence building and emotions work using Elsa with years Reception to Year 3. This work is carried out in small groups or on a 1 to 1.
A letter with accompanying pamphlet will be sent home if school feel this would benefit your child.
You can find more information and resources on local and national help available to you below. Please feel free to contact Mrs Reay or Mr Cook should you require signposting to support that may not be mentioned below.
Local Help
Your GP They will be able to provide help and advice. Your GP can also provide access to appropriate specialist services and local organisations.
Call 111 You can call 111 when you need medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergency. NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free from landlines and mobile phones.
NHS mental health services Find local mental health services on the NHS website.
National Help
Childline Free 24-hour counselling service for children and young people up to their 19th birthday.
Mind – Infoline Offers advice and support to service users; has a network of local associations in England and Wales to which people can turn for help. This has an excellent Coronavirus hub section to support your child.
0300 123 3393, text number: 86463
Supportline Confidential telephone helpline offering emotional support to any individual on any issue.
The Samaritans The Samaritans provide a confidential service for people in despair and who feel suicidal.
116 123
NSPCC Provides helplines and information on child abuse, child protection and safeguarding children.
Young Minds Young Minds has a Parent Helpline that offers free confidential telephone and email support to any adult worried about the wellbeing of a child or young person. There are also tips, advice and where to get support for your child's mental health during the coronavirus
http://www.youngminds.org.uk/for_parents
Helplines partnership
Provides a comprehensive list of mental health helplines in the UK.
https://helplines.org/helplines/
Mental Health Foundation This website offers a wide range of information about mental health issues.
http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk
Shout Shout 85258 is the UK's first free, confidential, 24/7 text support service. It's a place to go if you're struggling to cope and need mental health support.
PSHE AND RSE
Please read the information below. Your views are important to us. Email any questions or comments on the policies and RSE scheme to office@theatlasfederation.co.uk (FAO Miss Blakeman/ Mrs Reay) or send them in, in an envelope marked. If you would like to discuss any points further then please do ring school for a chat.
This school year we have been following the PSHE Association Materials to deliver our PSHE (Personal, Social, Health, Economic Education) lessons. This scheme of work covers all the aspects of the National Curriculum that we are expected to teach.
Although we have chosen to teach PSHE for many years at St James it is now a compulsory part of children’s education in line with the statutory requirements for Relationship and Health Education. All children will receive a weekly PSHE lesson delivered by either the class teacher or a Higher Level Teaching Assistant. During these lessons, children will learn about a range of concepts, equipping them with the appropriate knowledge and skills to make healthy, safe and responsible choices in their lives. Please see the table below for topics that will be covered for each year group
Year | Aut 1 | Aut 2 | Spr 1 | Spr 2 | Sum 1 | Sum 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N | Activities planned under the Early Learning Goals (ELGs) within a broad-based curricular topic | |||||
R | ||||||
1 | What is the same and different about us | Who is special to us? | What helps us stay healthy? | What can we do with money? | Who helps to keep us safe? | How can we look after each other and the world? |
2 | What makes a good friend? | What is bullying? | What jobs do people do? | What helps us stay safe? | What helps us grow and stay healthy? | How do we recognise our feelings? |
3 | How can we be a good friend? | What keeps us safe? | What are families like? | What makes a community? | Why should we eat well and look after our teeth? | Why should we keep active? |
4 | What strengths, skills and interests do we have? | How do we treat each other with respect? | How can we manage our feelings? | How can friends communicate safely | Choices and looking after our environment. | Risks |
5 | What makes your identity? | What decisions can people make with money? | How can we help in an accident or emergency? | What jobs would we like? | How will we grow and change? | How can everyday drugs affect health? |
6 | How can we keep healthy as we grow? | How can the media influence people? | What will change as we become more independent? How do friendships grow? | |||
Many of these topics were taught last year and you may recognise some of the titles from home-schooling. The new topic that I would like to bring your attention to is “What helps us grow and stay healthy” in Year 2 and ‘how we will grow and change’ in year 5. This unit of work will build on work that will now be covered in Science in Year 1 and continue in Year 5. In Science children cover certain aspects which link with the PSHE curriculum. They are:
Year 1 pupils should be taught to: Identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the human body and say which part of the body is associated with each sense.
Year 2 pupils should be taught to: Notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults. Describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene.
Year 5 pupils should be taught:
•about different types of reproduction, including sexual and asexual reproduction in plants and sexual reproduction in animals.
•to draw a timeline to indicate stages in the growth and development of humans.
•about the changes experienced in puberty.
We recognise that you as parents play a vital part in your child’s education, and we understand the importance of you knowing and understanding the concepts that your child will be taught in PSHE. The resources we use to deliver these lessons are all age-appropriate and are tailored to the age and physical and emotional maturity of our pupils.
To gain a greater understanding of our PSHE curriculum please see our PSHE and RSE policy on the school website.
In summary:
•Parents have the right to withdraw children from Sex Education lessons at Primary School that go beyond the content in the Science National Curriculum. At St James we will offer a lesson on puberty and growing up in year 5.
•Topics covered related and linked to the Science Curriculum are statutory and not optional to teach. This is as follows:
-In Key Stage 1, Pupils identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the human body: children learn that animals, including humans, have offspring that grow into adults. They should be introduced to the concepts of reproduction and growth but not how reproduction occurs.
–In Key Stage 2, Pupils should be taught to: describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals
•The curriculum on Relationships and Sex Education should complement, and be supported by, the school’s policies on PSHE, Behaviour and safeguarding.
PSHE and RSE lessons at St James will currently not go beyond the requirements of the Science National curriculum. There will be an online workshop, at the beginning of Summer 1, offered to parents of year 5. This will be led by the school nurse service. This will look at ways of supporting your child through puberty and how to discuss the changes they are going through. The DFE “Understanding Relationships and Health Education in your child’s primary school: a guide for parents” can be found below.