Positive mental health policy: summary

Wellbeing is “feeling good, feeling that our life is going well, and feeling able to get on with our daily lives” (Deighton et al. 2016)

At our school, we aim to promote positive mental health and wellbeing for every member of our staff and pupil body, taking advantage of the growing evidence base.

We pursue this aim using whole school approaches and targeted work aimed at vulnerable pupils.
We aim to promote the positive mental health of staff through a supportive culture alongside regular training and targeted support.
We aim to recognise and respond to mental ill health and promote a safe and stable environment for pupils both directly and indirectly affected.

Lead Members of Staff

All staff have a responsibility to promote the mental health of pupils, staff with a specific, relevant remit include:

Kevin Corteen – Headteacher. Designated child protection lead/ safeguarding officer (CPOMS key holder)
Thaley Clough- Mental health lead (CPOMS key holder)
Lisa Walker - Pastoral lead (CPOMS key holder)
Richard Osler – Deputy head. Safeguarding team (CPOMS key holder)
Stephen Bush - PSHE lead
Lucy Dimond - First aider

Teaching about mental health and wellbeing

The skills, knowledge and understanding needed by our pupils to keep themselves and others physically and mentally healthy and safe are included as part of our developmental PSHE and Healthy Schools curriculum. Activities are delivered across the school to help support pupils’ wellbeing, including Forest Crew, mindfulness colouring and yoga.

Recognising and responding to mental health issues

All staff will receive regular training about recognising and responding to mental health issues as part of their regular child protection training to enable them to keep pupils safe. School staff that become aware of warning signs which indicate a pupil is experiencing mental health or emotional wellbeing issues should log their concerns on CPOMS at the end of the morning or afternoon session.

Signposting support

We will ensure that staff, pupils and parents are aware of sources of support within school and in the local community. What support is available within our school and local community, who it is aimed at and how to access it is outlined under ‘Sources of support and information’ and in the full positive mental health policy, Appendix C.

Working with parents

In order to assist parents in supporting their children’s emotional and mental health we will:

Highlight sources of information and support about common mental health issues on our school website and through regular information sessions
Ensure that all parents are aware of who to talk to if they have concerns about their own child or a friend of their child
Make our mental health policy easily accessible to parents

Staff mental health and wellbeing

At Broad Oak we recognise that:

our staff are to be valued, supported and encouraged to develop personally and professionally within a learning and caring community
the Governing Body has a duty of care towards employees which requires them to manage and safeguard the physical and psychological wellbeing
there is a relationship between healthier more positive staff, pupil achievement and school improvement
the role modelling of good mental health by teachers has a positive impact on the wellbeing of the pupils

Actions will be implemented to assist in the development of an open and supportive culture and to raise awareness of the importance of looking after our mental health, including the appointment of a staff wellbeing coordinator and access to a confidential counselling service.

Please see full policy document for further information.