Here at North Town, we value the mental health and well-being of all our pupils, staff, parents, carers and everyone in our school community. For the past 3 years, North Town has been working towards achieving the Wellbeing award for Schools. We signed up to this award to further develop our work to promote positive wellbeing and mental health for the whole school community and gain accreditation for the work we have already done.
Achieving this award requires the involvement of all members of the school community: staff, parents, pupils, and governors. As we have gone through our journey, we have been listening to all parts of the school and beyond to understand the challenges they face and how we can best support them. During this time, we hope you have noticed the changes that have taken place, from the formation of the Champions of Change team in supporting children to parent information updates and the children’s awareness of Emotional Health and Wellbeing, through everyday teaching and whole projects such as Mental Health Awareness Week.
In June 2022, North Town Primary School and Nursery achieved the Wellbeing Award for Schools. This award will remain valid for the next three years. However, this is not the end of the journey. We will continue to make promoting emotional wellbeing and positive mental health a priority of the school. To achieve this, we have developed a whole school strategy and vision statement which builds on the successes to date and which we feel will continue to have a significant positive impact on children, staff and parents.
About the Award
The award focuses on ensuring effective practice and provision is in place that promotes the emotional wellbeing and mental health of for pupils, staff and parents. The award will enable us to develop these practices where necessary and help us to ensure that wellbeing is embedded in the long-term culture of our school. It will help us to create an environment where mental health is regarded as the responsibility of all.
When we have achieved the award, we will have demonstrated our commitment to:
- Promoting mental health as part of everyday school life
- Improving the emotional wellbeing of our staff, pupils, parents and carers
- Ensuring mental health problems are identified early and appropriate support provided
- Offering provision and interventions that matches the needs of our pupils and staff
- Promoting the importance of mental health awareness
- Capturing the views of parents, pupils and staff on mental health issues
The Award Objectives
The WAS has eight objectives which focus on the areas of evaluation, development of the work of schools in promoting and protecting emotional wellbeing and positive mental health. Each of these areas is further broken down into Key Performance Indicators.
Objective 1: The school is committed to promoting and protecting emotional wellbeing and mental health by achieving the Wellbeing Award For Schools.
Objective 2: The school has a clear vision and strategy for promoting and protecting emotional wellbeing mental health, which is communicated to all involved.
Objective 3:The school has a positive culture which regards the emotional wellbeing and mental health as the responsibility of all.
Objective 4: The school actively promotes staff emotional well being and mental health.
Objective 5:The school prioritises professional learning and staff development on emotional wellbeing and mental health.
Objective 6:The school understands the different types of emotional and mental health needs across the whole-school community and has systems in place to respond appropriately.
Objective 7:The school actively seeks the ongoing participation of the whole-school community in its approach to emotional wellbeing and mental health.
Objective 8: The school works in partnerships with other schools, agencies and available specialist services to support emotional wellbeing and mental health.