Mental health and wellbeing
Why mental health and wellbeing are important
At our school, we aim to promote positive mental health and wellbeing for our whole school community, including pupils, staff, parents and carers. We recognise that mental health and emotional wellbeing are just as important to our lives as physical health.
We recognise that children’s mental health is a crucial factor in their overall wellbeing and can affect their learning and achievement. Persistent mental health problems may lead to pupils having significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age.
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Code of Practice identifies social, emotional and mental health as one of the four areas of special educational need. All children go through ups and downs throughout their school careers and some face significant life events. Around 10% of children aged five to 16 have a diagnosable mental health need, and these can have an enormous impact on their quality of life, relationships and academic achievement. The Department for Education (DfE) recognises that: “In order to help their pupils succeed, schools have a role to play in supporting them to be resilient and mentally healthy.”
Schools can provide children and young people with a nurturing and supportive environment that has the potential to develop self-esteem and provide positive experiences for overcoming adversity and building resilience. For some, school will be a place of respite from difficult home lives and will offer positive role models and relationships, which are critical in promoting pupils’ wellbeing and can help to engender a sense of belonging and community.
Our role in school is to ensure that pupils are able to manage times of change and stress, develop resilience, are supported to reach their potential and can access help when they need it. We also have a role in ensuring that pupils learn what they can do to maintain positive mental health, what can affect their mental health, how they can help to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues and where they can go if they need help and support.