Mental Health & Wellbeing

At St.Botolph’s C of E Primary School our aim is to care for and develop the whole child educationally, emotionally, spiritually, morally and physically. As well as caring for their education we also care for their mental health and wellbeing and feel that it is essential to provide children with information to enable them to make life long, well informed decisions about their diet and health.

Looking after our emotional well-being and mental health

What do we do at St.Botolph’s Primary School to support children’s emotional well-being and mental health?

St.Botolph’s Primary School is committed to creating a happy, caring and supportive environment. We also aim to provide a positive, supportive and inclusive ethos where children can thrive.

• Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) is central to the curriculum across the whole school.  We adopted the Cambridgeshire Primary Personal Development Programme in September 2019. The concepts covered in PSHE include identity, managing feelings and emotions, relationships, change, resilience and being healthy, which includes physical, emotional and social well-being. PSHE assists pupils to cope with the changes at puberty, introduces them to a wider world, manage transitions and enables them to make an active contribution to their communities. 
• Family and mental well-being lead. We are fortunate to have our own lead, Nicola Robe, working with us for three days a week. She is a consistent factor in school working closely with parents, children and staff. Nicola supports children who have had or are having adverse childhood experiences such as domestic violence, bereavement, anxiety and any other life experiences that may affect their emotional well-being. She is a fully trained ELSA who will offer regular 1:1 or small group support. Nicola also has good links with outside agencies making contact as and when the need arises. Nicola also has a basic counselling skills qualification but for more difficult cases she can directly refer children to our trained counsellor.
• ELSAs - We also have Ness Dakin and Nicola Taylor who are fully trained ELSAs and spends part of their week working with individuals and groups of children.
• As a school, we have and continue to access additional outside help and support for pupils when required.
• Within the National Curriculum, every child has a minimum of two hours of physical education each week. Some PE lessons are taught by our Specialist PE Lead, Adam Vasey, who also organises afterschool sports activities and competitions. Many of our KS2 pupils have attended at least one sport-related after-school club, and many take part in inter-school sporting competitions.
• We promote healthy eating throughout the school. Children in FS/Key Stage One have access to free fruit. 
• To support children’s social and emotional development, and their well-being we offer a good range of after-school clubs throughout the year - all with a view to increasing the range of experiences that children have, enabling them to make informed choices for adult life.  Activities are designed to be fun and cater for a wide variety of interests.
• We include a ‘Healthy Me’ Week in the school calendar each year and plan activities for the whole school community. We also focus on other key areas during the year such as Internet Safety and Keeping Safe.
• We monitor the well-being of our disadvantaged and vulnerable children. We have dedicated PP Champions and Intervention leads who regularly work with individuals and groups and work hard to build positive relationships with parents.
• The school is committed to gaining a fuller understanding of mental health and supporting the needs of identified children.
• In June 2019, the school achieved the National Wellbeing Award. Click here to read the final report. We have continued to have Wellbeing as a key focus for our school following what we learned when we had the award.
• You can read our Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy here

Please click here for a list of websites and Apps that you may find useful