Wellbeing at LPPS

At LPPS, we feel a huge responsibility to support our children and staff in developing positive strategies to support their mental health and emotional wellbeing. We have placed mental health and wellbeing at the top of our agenda and strive to raise children who have lifelong strategies to develop good mental health and also know what they can do at times of challenge. Now more than ever, removing the stigma surrounding mental health is of great importance.

In addition to our Wellbeing Curriculum, we also support the children to develop metacognitive learning behaviours, we use the Zone of Regulation across the school, we use the Boxall Profile across the whole school, we mark mental health with a dedicated day or week each term and this is all brought together through the fundamentals of our core values.

The aim of teaching pupils about physical health and mental wellbeing is to give them the information that they need to make good decisions about their own health and wellbeing. It should enable them to recognise what is normal and what is an issue in themselves and others and, when issues arise, know how to seek support as early as possible from appropriate sources.

Physical health and mental wellbeing are interlinked, and it is important that pupils understand that good physical health contributes to good mental wellbeing, and vice versa.

Pupils should know:

• that mental wellbeing is a normal part of daily life, in the same way as physical health
• that there is a normal range of emotions (e.g. happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, nervousness) and scale of emotions that all humans experience in relation to different experiences and situations
• how to recognise and talk about their emotions, including having a varied vocabulary of words to use when talking about their own and others’ feelings
• how to judge whether what they are feeling and how they are behaving is appropriate and proportionate
• the benefits of physical exercise, time outdoors, community participation, voluntary and service-based activity on mental wellbeing and happiness
• simple self-care techniques, including the importance of rest, time spent with friends and family and the benefits of hobbies and interests
• isolation and loneliness can affect children and that it is very important for children to discuss their feelings with an adult and seek support
• that bullying (including cyberbullying) has a negative and often lasting impact on mental wellbeing
• where and how to seek support (including recognising the triggers for seeking support), including whom in school they should speak to if they are worried about their own or someone else’s mental wellbeing or ability to control their emotions (including issues arising online)
• it is common for people to experience mental ill health. For many people who do, the problems can be resolved if the right support is made available, especially if accessed early enough

Physical health and mental wellbeing DfE 2000

USEFUL LINKS

Please click on the links below for other organisations that support children's mental health and wellbeing

Anna Freud Centre - A children’s mental health charity providing specialist help and training and carrying out research.

YoungMinds - YoungMinds is the UK’s leading charity committed to improving emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people and empowering their parents and carers.

Childline - Childline is a counselling service for parents, children and young people. Help and advice is free and confidential.

Mind - National mental health charity, which offers an excellent range of materials on all aspects of mental health. It also lists details of local Mind Associations.

Samaritans - Samaritans is a confidential emotional support service for anyone is the UK and Ireland. The service is available 24 hours a day for people who are experiencing feeling so distress or despair. Volunteers offer support by responding to phone calls, emails and letter. Alternatively, people can drop into branch to have a face to face meeting.

MindEd - MindEd is a free educational resource on children and young people’s mental health for all adults. MIndEd for Families has online advice and information from trusted sources and will help you to understand and identify early issues and best support your child.