Mental Health and Well Being 2023-2024
Across the Addmore Federation, we are committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our students, their families, staff and governors.
All of our staff are trained in the 'Solihull Apporach' and many of our staff are trained in Attachment Awareness.
Across the Fedaertion we have two fully qualified and experienced ELSA support workers as well as two members of staff trained in the 'No Worries' programme.
We have also designed a unique and individual programme, 'Warm Welcome', which provides personalised and specific support to pupils joining our school who may or may not have additional SEND/ SEMH support needs.
We pride ourselves on being an inclusive, nurturing and supportive federation. We encourage students to be honest and respectful and we want each student to have their voice heard. At school, we recognise that everybody faces their own worries and challenges in life and at times individuals may find it hard to cope. At Addmore we don’t wish students and staff to face these challenges alone. We understand that every once in a while emotional support is needed. Mental health is everyone’s responsibility at our school and we all have a role to play in supporting one another.
At the heart of our work is the desire for all our children to live and experience life in all its fullness with a healthy mind and the opportunity to share their thoughts, feelings, worries and aspirations in a safe and caring school.
Inspired by the 'Art of Being Brilliant', we have worked at developing mental wellness through exploring growth mindsets and how to be the best version of ourselves.
By considering student and staff wellbeing in all aspects of our school life, a positive healthy environment can be created that improves student engagement, performance and achievement which in turn gives everyone the opportunity to develop and achieve their full potential.
Our pupil well being offer follows a four stage approach:
Level 1- this is our universal well being offer providing pastoral care for all children through our PHSE curriculum, our Reflections and class circle times and pupil voice surveys. We also have started to work with a Character Development organisation called 'Reading the Game' and we have our own lead who comes into school each week to work with the children on developing resilience and empathy.
Level 2- this is when we provided some short term interventions to support children who may need that extra care. This is in the form of daily check ins with a trusted adult, use of zones of regulation and also they may access our 'No Worries' sessions with our experienced practitioner. We are using some of our Pupil Premium Funding to support this work.
Level 3- We have a fully trained ELSAs in school to offer bespoke 1:1 support for children who need more specialist support. We currently have capacity to provide this for 3 afternoons per week. We may also look at referring to BeeU or Kooth at this stage. We are using some of our Pupil Premium Funding to support this work.
Level 4- if children need longer term specialist support that we cannot offer in school, we may refer then to our external Play Therapist or to providers such as 'Life Shed' which can offer bespoke therapeutic support. We would also look to refer to BeeU at this point too.
Mrs A. Greenway and Mrs E. Rawsthorne – Mental Health Leads
Our policy is outlined in the downloadable document listed at the bottom of this page
Details of our work surrounding Mental Health and signposting to the agencies we work alongside detailed in the 'Useful Websites for Parents and Carers' section of the website.