Mental Health and Wellbeing
“Children who feel well, do well.”
At Kentmere we know the importance of enabling pupils to be resilient and supporting good mental health and wellbeing. The day-to-day ethos and approach we have at our school has an impact on the well-being of all of us, therefore we promote well-being through some of our strategic goals.
The five ways to well-being:
Connect – connect with people around you.
Be active – find an activity that you enjoy and make it a part of your life.
Keep learning – learning new skills can give you a sense of achievement and a new confidence.
Give – give to those in need or even giving a smile, a thank you or a kind word.
Take notice – be more aware of the present moment, including your thoughts and feelings, your body and the world around you.
We support and promote positive mental health and wellbeing in the following ways:
Holistic support for all: Our universal offer made to all learners, creating a safe and calm environment where mental health problems are less likely, improving the mental health and wellbeing of the whole school and equipping pupils to be resilient so that they can manage the normal stress of life. This includes teaching pupils about mental wellbeing through our PSHE curriculum and reinforcing this teaching through school activities and ethos.
Identification: recognising emerging issues as early and accurately as possible.
Focussed support: For those who might need more bespoke support and can be managed within school, to help pupils to access evidence based early support and interventions.
Specialist support: For those learners who may need bespoke support from outside agencies. Working effectively with external agencies to provide swift access or referrals to specialist support and treatment.
Click here to read our Mental Health and Wellbeing strategy – which outlines our bespoke approach of support.
Our aim is clear; we want to support children in school and with our own expertise. With early intervention, we can increase children’s capacity to help themselves and reduce instances of poor mental health. Every member of staff is trained in Mental Health Awareness (MHFA) and we have many fully trained Mental Health First Aiders.
We deliver interventions, provide a trained MHFA ‘listening ear’ and have a comprehensive list of local support to signpost. Every classroom in our school is equipped with a Sunshine Box, Worry Monster and Sensory Snack Box. These seemingly small strategies have a huge impact on the day to day running of school; children know their worries will always be addressed.
We are proud of our partnership with Place2Be, who are a mental health charity who specialises in children’s mental health. Our Mental Health Practitioner is an integral component of our approach, and provides mental health support through one-to-one and group counselling using tried and tested methods backed by research.
As a recognition for the unrelenting work we do to drive our Mental Health approach, we were incredibly proud to be selected as a finalist in the Place2Be Wellbeing in Schools Award – Mental Health Excellence in 2022 and attended a special ceremony at BAFTA London with some of the leading voices in Mental Health.
We continue to hold the Wellbeing Award from Optimus Education and have recently been reaccredited in 2023.
As part of Watergrove Trust, we hold an annual ‘Wellbeing Summit’ to celebrate our Mental Health Champions and share ways to meet the 5 ways to wellbeing. Learners from across the Trust come together to build relationships, skills and expertise in this area.
Useful Links
Local links for Rochdale:
Mental health and wellbeing resources and services for children and young people in Rochdale
Rochdale Emotional and Mental Health Services
Support for children and young people who are experiencing emotional health and wellbeing issues
National links:
Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families
Wellbeing advice for all those supporting children and young people.
Call 0800 1111 to get help and advice about a wide range of issues or to talk to a counsellor online.
Content targeted to under 12s
A range of resource that children can use to reduce stress
Easy ways to eat well and move more
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge support new Every Mind Matters advice for looking after mental wellbeing
Movement and mindfulness videos
An educational resource for all adults on children and young people’s mental health.
Advice on supporting grieving children during the coronavirus outbreak
Outside the Box has produced a free activity journal to help children to enhance their mental wellbeing through a range of activities
The UK’s leading charity fighting for children and young people’s mental health.
