Wellbeing

Staverton strives to be a school where everyone can flourish. Our Mustard tree, a powerful symbol of the school’s vision and values, drives the school’s approach to ethos and way of being. Everyone’s wellbeing is central to this vision and this is rooted in the theological principles outlined below:

God cares for the community and every person in it. We know this through:
Creation- all things are made in his image and are of intrinsic worth. (Psalm 1)
God’s law-God has given us all an innate sense of right and wrong (Romans 2)
God’s presence- we are created to be in relationship with him.(1 Samuel 18)
Jesus shows us God’s way for our lives
Jesus was both God and Man, both spiritual and physical (Phillipians 2)
Care for our physical needs (Matthew 14)
Care for our minds (Matthew 6)
Care for our relationships (Ephesians 4)
Care for the every-day moments (John 21)
Care for special occasions (John 2)
Care for our spiritual selves (Matthew 11)
The Church recognises the value of the whole individual:
Rejected the view that the body is bad –Stoic heresy
Rejected the view that we are just spirits- gnostic heresy
Preached love and forgiveness as the ideal Christian life

As a result of our faith and security of God’s love we create a culture of Christian Wellbeing:

We look after our bodies- they are god’s temple and dwelling place
We look after our minds- they lead us to learn, discuss, reason and engage
We look after our spirits- they lift us to God and to praise his works and beauty
We look after our relationships- we love because he loved us
We look after our work- we do this for him and to add good to the world
We look after our possessions-they belong to him and we are stewards of them
We look after our faith-in it we find peace and purpose and wellbeing
We look after the world and those in it- this is our service of thanks

“For you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their peace in you.”

St Augustine of Hippo

Statement of Mental Health and Pastoral Support

Moral purpose

Staverton CofE Primary School is passionate to making a difference in the lives of our young people. At Staverton, we believe that everyone in our school is important and everyone should feel like they belong within the school. This is shown in in our vision for our school, it is based on Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed, which describes the Kingdom of Heaven growing and flourishing from small, humble beginnings. We believe that our school is like that tree, which has grown over time. It is home to our pupils, who are like the birds nesting within its branches. They are nurtured in our school, and in time flourish, developing skills, attitudes and values which are important for adult life. We want to respond compassionately to the needs of our children, whatever they are, supporting and encouraging them so they can learn to thrive.

At the core of our school are the values which help us grow: courage, kindness, respect, trust, hope and forgiveness. We want wellbeing to be at the core of our school. For children to succeed academically, they need to have a good foundation of wellbeing.

Our core purpose can be summarised as:

Belonging to the school and community
Compassion for each and every child no matter their situation.
Valuing each child’s individuality and uniqueness.
Encouraging children to reach their full potential in life.

What Inclusion and Effective Mental Health Interventions Means to Us

The child stays at the centre of our discussions, we aim to understand the reason for each child’s behaviour.
Clear, consistent boundaries and rules are vital for learning.
We prioritise those who need our help most, but intervene with all.
We treat every child with respect and compassion, no matter their choices, behaviours or situation in life. We value their individuality and uniqueness.
We aim to listen thoughtfully to every child’s concerns.

Expectations of each other

Everyone in the school has read and understood Keeping Children Safe in Education.
All staff have read and are aware of the school’s policies on behaviour and safeguarding policies and protocols.
All staff speak to students and each other with courtesy, respect, understanding and compassion.
Staff record any concerns related to safeguarding or mental health on cpoms.
Staff follow the procedure for reporting concerns and seeking help or guidance on children’s mental health.

Specific areas of mental health to address

Safeguarding

Why is it important?

Safeguarding comes before all else at Staverton.When children feel safe at school and home, this positively impacts children’s mental health.

What are we doing?

All staff are regularly trained in identifying cause for concerns and how to act upon them. All staff are aware that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, that they should have read and understood section one of Keeping Young people Safe in Education 2021, that early intervention is key and that context matters.Staff are aware that changes in a child’s mental health may indicate a safeguarding concern.Staff are aware that when there are safeguarding concerns, this can impact on children’s mental health.

What do we aim to improve?

We acknowledge that the key areas to develop in safeguarding are online safety, peer on peer abuse and themes within RSE.

Behaviour

Why is it important?

Good behaviour in schools allows for children to learn and teachers to teach.Many children need those firm boundaries and consequences. But also, recognition of positive behaviours in school.We are here to educate the whole child, developing their understanding of respectful, caring and safe relationships with others.

What are we currently doing?

We are committed to highlighting positive behaviours in class, as this is the model behaviour we want to see.We believe in dealing with negative behaviours in a calm, private manner, so that this behaviour is not highlighted and the child is not embarrassed. Our focus is on restorative practice, helping the child understand what went wrong, who it impacted and how they can make this better.We want to understand the reasons why each child is behaving in a certain way, we believe that no child is just ‘naughty’.We make reasonable adjustments for children with special educational needs and disadvantaged or vulnerable children.

What do we aim to improve?

We recognise that these are our whole school aims, but we still need to work on a consistent approach with clear, defined boundaries.

Pastoral Care and Mental Health

Why is it important?

Pastoral care is important to our school as it addresses the needs of our children and supports them through difficulties that they may experience in their life.The mental health of our children is important and a priority in our school. We recognise that early intervention is crucial to preventing mental health difficulties later in life.

What are we currently doing?

As a school, we have two members of staff who are trained in the thrive approach and who work with certain individuals to deliver interventions based on the child’s need.Senior leaders meet together to discuss particular children and how to support their needs.We have a full time Parent Support Advisor available to support parents and children.

What do we aim to improve?

We would like to formalise a process for identifying mental health needs in a child and how we should respond to this need. We would like to put in place a series of interventions that could address each particular need, including interventions within school and from outside agencies.We want to assess, the need of each child, evaluate which intervention is most effective and monitor the impact of each intervention.We also want to identify strategies which can be used within the class to support our children’s mental health.

Creating a culture of wellbeing

Why is it important?

As a school, we wish to be proactive in dealing with children’s wellbeing. A ‘culture of wellbeing’ is vital for this approach.By creating a sense of belonging and compassion within the school, children are less likely to develop mental health difficulties.

What are we currently doing?

Our vision is one of belonging as well as owning individuality and our uniqueness.Our school values: Courage, kindness, respect, forgiveness, trust and hope are important roots for children to grow and flourish into adults with a foundation of good wellbeing.Our school celebrates children who are showing these values each week.We have a through PSHE and RSE curriculum, which discusses relevant topics with the children and develops healthy habits for life.

What do we aim to improve?

We want to ensure that everyone in the school feels respected and that they belong to the school.We want everyone to have at least one person within the school who they feel comfortable with, who they can talk to and who they feels listens to them.

Staff Wellbeing

Why is it important?

We recognise the importance of staff’s wellbeing at Staverton and the impact this has on children’s wellbeing. We recognise that for staff to support children’s wellbeing, we need to look after staff’s mental health.

What are we currently doing?

With the implementation of a new headteacher, staff are feeling more comfortable and a culture of trust has begun to develop. Staff feel they are able to raise issues with the head teacher and that he will listen to what they say. This leads to a more honest and open school.Issues that are affecting staff wellbeing have been identified and we are working on steps that we can implement to support staff wellbeing.

What do we aim to improve?

We want to implement changes to communication, planning and behaviour as these are the key issues raised by staff members.We also want to implement initiates, which are there to boost staff morale, such as a ‘wellbeing buddy’, staff shout out board and staff walks.

Parent and community involvement

Why is it important?

Parent involvement and engagement is important when considering children’s mental health.

What are we currently doing?

Parents are more willing to engage with school and their feedback is generally positive. We have a parent support advisor, who has a great relationship with many parents and an approachable headteacher, who parents feel comfortable raising issues with.

What do we aim to improve?

In the future, we would like parents to have an awareness of mental health and where to go to support their mental health as well as the mental health of their children. We would like parents to feel comfortable discussing their child’s mental health with staff, so that we can get a full picture of their children’s needs.We would also like parents to understand mental health, so that there is no stigma around the topic of mental health.