Samaritans
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Mental Health and Wellbeing
At Whitkirk, we strive to actively promote positive emotional health and well being throughout the school.
Within our school ethos we promote a safe and open culture where children can talk about their feelings and experiences and learn in a fail safe environment. Our caring staff team are quick to pick up on children who may need additional emotional support. We understand that at times pupils and their parents/ carers may experience issues affecting their emotional health such as anxiety, stress, depression, bereavement and loss, eating disorders and self-harm. Our Haven team, Mrs Hart and Mrs Audsley have access to a wide of support groups which may be of benefit to you and your family.
We recognise that good mental health is as important as good physical health.
Our pupils are taught self-care techniques, including recognising and managing emotions, exercise, and how to build relationships through a rich and varied curriculum. We teach our children how they can help others with their mental health in age-appropriate ways. Often, we use stories with our children to help them to understand theirs and others' feelings. We have a whole host of books to support our children.
We use the DfE's guidance, Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools, as a guide and work to their ideals:
- Prevention: creating a safe and calm environment where mental health problems are less likely, improving the mental health and wellbeing of the whole school population, and equipping pupils to be resilient so that they can manage the normal stress of life effectively. This will include teaching pupils about mental wellbeing through the curriculum and reinforcing this teaching through school activities and ethos.
- Identification: recognising emerging issues as early and accurately as possible.
- Early support:helping pupils to access evidence based early support and interventions.
- Access to specialist support: working effectively with external agencies to provide swift access or referrals to specialist support and treatment.
Healthy eating
We think it is very important to learn about healthy eating.
We offer the children three healthy lunch options every day for school dinners. Fresh fruit and vegetables are always provided. The children have access to drinking water in every classroom.
The children at Whitkirk love to cook and we believe that this is the best way to learn about the food we eat. The children have the opportunity to prepare healthy meals as part of the curriculum, as well as learning about where their food comes from.
Gardening club will be starting again in the Spring Term when the weather will hopefully be just right for planting and growing!
As with everything at Whitkirk, our partnership with parents/ carers is incredibly important.
Useful links
Young Minds
Whether you want to understand more about how you're feeling and find ways to feel better, or you want to support someone who's struggling, we can help.
