Health and Wellbeing
At Offmore Primary School, we are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our pupils and staff. We know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional mental and emotional support. We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play. We aim to nurture and develop the holistic child, helping them to flourish, learn and succeed by providing opportunities for them, and the adults around them, to develop the strengths and coping skills that underpin resilience. Mental health and wellbeing are intrinsic to the exciting, varied and comprehensive curriculum we teach. Discussion around mental health and strategies to support mental health and wellbeing, therefore, feature frequently as part of the school day.
Our Well Being Champions 2023-2024
At Offmore we:
- help children to understand their emotions and feelings better
- help children feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries
- support children socially to form and maintain relationships
- promote self-esteem and ensure children know that they count
- encourage children to be confident and ‘dare to be different’
- help children to develop emotional resilience and to manage setbacks
We promote a mentally healthy environment through:
- Promoting our school values and encouraging a sense of belonging.
- Promoting pupil voice and opportunities to participate in decision-making
- Celebrating academic and non-academic achievements
- Providing opportunities to develop a sense of worth through taking responsibility for themselves and others
- Providing opportunities to reflect.
- Access to appropriate support that meets their needs
We offer different levels of support:
- Universal Support- To meet the needs of all our pupils through our overall ethos and our wider curriculum. For instance, promoting an open dialogue about mental health, developing resilience and growth mindset and exploring mindfulness. We also promote the link between mental and physical health and advocate healthy diet choices, sleep hygiene and being active.
- Additional support- For those who may have short term needs and those who may have been made vulnerable by life experiences such as bereavement.
- Targeted support- For pupils who need more differentiated support and resources or specific targeted interventions such as wellbeing groups or personal mentors.
Children’s Mental Health Week - Healthy Inside and Out
Offmore Primary School was proud to support Children’s Mental Health Week alongside the well-being support that we already offer in school. This Children’s Mental Health Week, we encouraged children, young people and adults to take steps towards being ‘Healthy Inside and Out!’
‘When we think about healthy living, we tend to focus on looking after our bodies – our physical wellbeing – through food, being active and getting enough sleep. However, in order to be healthy overall, it’s important that we look after our minds – our mental wellbeing – too.’
The week was hosted by Place2be, the children’s mental health charity. Over the week, we focused on three key areas: a healthy diet, getting enough sleep and being active. We took part in lots of fun activities to work on understanding our physical and mental health and explored ways to keep ourselves healthy.
In reception, the children explored ways to calm your mind and emotions when they are fizzing around in your head.
In years 1 and 2 the children the children made an emotion graph to explore how a characters emotions changed during the exciting story ‘Kidnapped’ by Pie Corbett.
In year 3 and 4, the children discussed sleep hygiene- the importance of sleep and what is needed to get a good night’s sleep.
The children in year 5 and 6 discussed diet and what it means to have a balanced diet. The children had some eye-opening discussions about the sugar content of some of their favourite foods and drinks.
The children also practised mindfulness and yoga which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Below are some useful links for extra information and advice about children’s mental health and wellbeing:
Mental Health Children and Young People
NHS Services CAMHS Information for Children
Mental Health and Well being at Offmore
