Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing

Our Ethos

At Ringmer Primary and Nursery School, mental health and emotional wellbeing is an important part of school life for both children and staff. We take every opportunity to support our children and staff with their emotional, physical and mental wellbeing and promote important skills to keep physically and mentally fit and healthy for life.  Being able to recognise and regulate our own emotions is a key life skill and enables children to feel ready to learn.  

Staff work hard to build positive relationships with the children and support them both academically and emotionally.  Mental health and emotional wellbeing is incorporated into our curriculum through areas such as Thrive Time (every Friday afternoon children learn about a life skill such as finance, oracy, care for the environment and many more) as well as PSHE.   Marvellous Me assemblies encourage children to share their own personal areas of interest outside school with their peers, demonstrating the level to which we value all aspects of childrens talents and personalities.  Other  whole school assemblies are used to promote awareness of the importance of mental health and self care as an equal to physical health.

We have support from a wide range of services on whom we can call or signpost our families to for advice.  These are outlined in our Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Policy which is on this page.  Also on this page are the books on prescription list and guide.  These are books that can be found in East Sussex libraries and address a wide range of issues for parents and children. 

Well being in young people aged 8-11years old - meet Ollee!

Ollee is a digital friend for children aged 8-11, created by Parent Zone and funded by BBC Children in Need’s A Million & Me initiative, which aims to make a difference to children’s emotional wellbeing.

It’s designed to help children reflect on how they feel and to process their experiences with the support and help of their parents and carers – and it does this by offering them advice about a range of subjects: school, family, friends, their body, the internet and the world.

For each of these subjects, children can choose an emotion that matches how they feel about it: happy, angry, sad, confused, frustrated, stressed or worried.

Next, they can choose from a list of topics – for instance, a child who was worried about school might be able to select ‘I haven’t done my homework’ as the cause of their worry. Finally, they’ll see a page of advice about the topic, presented in child-friendly bite-sized chunks they can read then or save for later.

You can more information and download the Ollee app here: https://parentzone.org.uk/Ollee

Supporting your child's mental health

https://youngminds.org.uk/supporting-parents-helpfinder/  This is particularly helpful for looking at what  your worries are as a parent, regarding your child's mental heath, and getting advice for what to do to support your child.

Emotions are demonstrated in many ways and often in emotional outbursts, this poster offers advice about how to manage those tricky times.

when-emotions-explode-poster.pdf

Anxiety

In school we talk to children about worries, how these can make us feel and what we can do to help ourselves with our worries.  If you are seeking advice about how to support your anxious child, these documents may be of use to you.

Childline offer resources, one of which is the 'calm zone', available on this link:

anxious_child.pdf
Anxiety_Difficulties.pdf

Have you met our school ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant)?

Mrs Sharon Powell and Mrs Anni Green, teaching assistants at our school are now  fully qualified Emotional Literacy Support Assistants. Teachers can refer children for a block of focused 1:1 or group support with one of them.  They liaise with parents and teachers whilst working with the child.  They support areas such as emotional awareness, anger management, anxiety and resilience. Below are some resources from them that they felt would be useful to share.




5 a day to wellbeing.pdf
Web Page (1).pdf
Web Page.pdf

The THRIVE approach

Our families and children are currently facing unprecedented challenges relating to their own mental health and wellbeing.  The THRIVE approach have shared some resources, which can be seen below.  These are designed to support families through this.

Useful links

youngminds.org.uk Leading the fight for a future where all young minds are supported and empowered, whatever the challenges.

annafreud.org A childrens mental health charity delivering pioneering mental health care for over 60 years

mind.org.uk Five ways to wellbeing

openforparents.org If you live in East Sussex and you’re worried about managing your child’s behaviour, supporting their development or their emotional wellbeing or you want support and advice to help build a positive relationship with your child, we can help.

anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk A great anti-bullying website for both teachers and families.

czone.eastsussex.gov.uk/health-safety-wellbeing/mental-health-emotional/ Resources, advice and signposting to support can be found here, as well as news and events.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice and support for parents and carers (NSPCC)

The links above have updated their support and advice in light of the current situation.  There are useful resources and advice for parents and young people.

The NSPCC has created a number of resources to support parents and carers during this difficult time. Topics include:

The advice can be found on the NSPCC website here: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/coronavirus-advice-suppport-children-families-parents/

Health in Mind - help for adults

It is not only our young people that are finding life hard at the moment. If you need help you can contact Health in Mind.