Mental Health & Wellbeing

St Andrew’s approach to wellbeing

Mental health and wellbeing is fundamental to our ability to think, interact positively with others, enjoy life and cope with worries and stress.

At St Andrew’s, the mental health and wellbeing of our whole community is a priority. We understand that children learn best when they feel safe, happy and healthy. We actively promote physical and mental health and equip our pupils with the skills and knowledge to help them lead healthy lives, now and in the future.

How we support mental health and wellbeing in school.

We have a multi-faceted approach to supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing.

All children are taught the skills and knowledge they need to lead healthy and safe lives. This is interwoven through our PSHCE, Science, PE and Computing curriculum, but is a feature of many other areas of the curriculum as well.

We organise many enrichment activities throughout the year focussed on children’s mental health and wellbeing. These include themed weeks and workshops. Most notably, we participate in Feeling Good Week each year. Past themes have been around body positivity, 5 Ways to Wellbeing, and ‘Express Yourself.’

Some children need more support with their mental health and wellbeing. Staff, including our mental health lead, Mrs Spragg, runs a number of interventions to support pupils, social, emotional and mental health needs. Interventions include Brick Club, which develops social interactions and self-esteem and Drawing and Talking, an intervention to explore feelings in more depth.

A few children may need additional, professional support. We work closely with a number of external agencies at a more targeted level, and we also have access to a play therapist who visits our school weekly to support individual pupils following a referral.

What to do if you are worried about your child’s mental health/ wellbeing

We know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support.

If you are worried about your child’s mental health and wellbeing, you could:

Firstly, speak to their class teacher they may be able to put in place additional support, or signpost you to further help
Contact Mrs Spragg, our Inclusion Lead and Senco about your concerns.
Speak to your GP – they are a useful place to gain medical support and signpost to local services.
Explore the links below for additional advice and support.

Useful Resources and Links

Information for parents/ carers to support their child’s mental health:

Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust Wellbeing Practitioner - The Children’s Wellbeing Practitioner Service provides early intervention emotional wellbeing and mental health support to children and young people aged 5-19 who would benefit from early intervention, low intensity support.

In cases of emergencies or when urgent support is needed

We are not an emergency service and cannot hold high levels of risk therefore if you need urgent help, there are concerns around self-harm or suicidal ideation please contact Single Point of Access (SPA) on: 0800 6444 101 or NHS 111

HertsHub – Find information about Mental Health services available in Hertfordshire, to provide support from Early Help to Specialist support, for children and young people.

YoungMinds – a mental health charity for children, young people and their parents. It offers advice and support about what to do if you are worried about your child’s mental health, and ways you can help. Includes a phone helpline.

Childline – a service run by NSPCC which provides help and advice about a range of issues.

WithYouth – Online emotional and practical support through digital services, resources, one to one sessions, group and instant messaging to help young people feel heard and supported

MindEd – has advice and information from trusted experts about how you can support your family and take care of yourself.

Place2Be – a national charity offering advice and support to children and their parents/ carers

Hertfordshire Mind Network – work across Hertfordshire to support positive mental health and wellbeing.

Bereavement:

Winston’s Wish - is a charity that offers free, accessible online grief support to children and young people

Information for parents/ carers to support their own mental health:

Mind Parenting and Mental Health – Offers support for difficulties you may face as a parent with a mental health difficulty :

Mental health and parenting | NSPCC – National charity to protect children from abuse, but with far reaching support for families