Health & Wellbeing
The emotional wellbeing of pupils, staff, parents and carers is crucial to living a happy, successful and healthy life. There are times, however, when we all need a little support in achieving this.
Top Tips for boosting mental health
Eat well and regularly - this regulates your blood sugar levels which impacts on your mood and helps concentration - your brain needs nutrients too!
Get a good nights sleep – one of the hardest things to do sometimes – but here are some tips:
- Leave your phone downstairs and get a traditional alarm clock
- Get into a good routine
- Practise some breathing and relaxation techniques
Talk - share your feelings with friends and family - it doesn't have to be a big sit-down conversation, let it develop as you do something together.
Keep physically active - get all those endorphins going in the brain which help us feel good
Connect with others and be sociable. Try volunteering - helping others can make you feel part of the community and make you feel good about your place in the world.
Do something you are good at! Lose yourself in an activity or hobby - enjoying yourself can help beat stress and achieving something can really boost your self-esteem.
Develop some coping strategies for difficult/stressful situations - these will be personal to you, but could include writing lists, listening to music, repeating positive phrases to yourself, imagining a calm landscape. Know what works for you and practice them so they are ready at hand.
Ask for help! One of the bravest things we can do is ask for help and there is no weakness or shame in doing so! One of the most important ways we can keep mentally healthy is to recognise when you are not feeling good.
There is a vast amount of support online that is free to access and offers guidance, advice, support and tips on how to deal with mental illnesses like anxiety and depression. This support ranges from case studies to helpful hints and offers phone numbers in case this support is required.
Promoting positive mental health is essential to success. The online support organisations below are some of the many ways we can extend the range of support available to our school and the wider community. Please see some useful links below and support materials from the Mental Health Foundation.
www.stonewall.org.uk Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and support for parents.
www.youngminds.org.uk Project based advice for young people and parents/carers. Helpline number for parents/carers.
www.kooth.com All young people.
www.anxietyuk.org.uk Young people. Support for anxiety conditions.
www.time-to-change.org.uk Young people. Provides phone numbers for mental health charities, groups, and services.
www.headstogether.org.uk Young people. Promotes talking about mental health and getting rid of the stigma attached to it.
www.place2be.org.uk Parents/carers. Provides emotional support for students.
www.familylives.org.uk Advice about getting ready to start secondary school. Our goal is to help you improve your health and happiness.
www.childnet.com Parents and carers. Working to keep the internet a safe place to be.
www.thewhatcentre.co.uk Parents and carers. A place for parents/carers to access services in the local area.
www.samaritans.org All people with suicidal thoughts.
www.studentsssociety.org.uk Advice for young people.
www.virtual-college.co.uk Self-harm awareness online course
www.annafreud.org Support for families, free courses
parentzone.org.uk Working towards a safer digital world of opportunities.
actionforhappiness.org Monthly calendars packed with actions you can take to help create a happier and kinder world.
Wellbeing is how we think and feel about ourselves, our lives and our experiences.
At The Coppice Academy we have a Reflection room for students’ who may want a quiet space away from others for some quiet reflection time in a friendly, comfortable space.
The Reflection room ensures that students who are feeling vulnerable or experiencing adversity at home, feel safe and can talk their issues through with a member of the school health and wellbeing team to share how they think and feel about themselves and help them to cope. The social and emotional skills, knowledge and behaviours that young people learn when speaking with a member of the well-being team provides ways that students can build resilience and learn strategies to help them to cope with life.
Referrals to the wellbeing team can be made by students themselves, students’ friends, staff or parents/carers. We have two post boxes in our school where referrals slips can be posted making referrals discreet for all staff and students to use. These are placed in the school hall and the top corridor.
Students can post a note on one of the formatted request slips to ask to speak to a member of the health and well-being team. Should a student have a concern or if something is bothering them, they are able to write their name, class and worry on the slip and put it into the post box. The boxes are checked daily and will be acted upon either by the child’s class teacher or a member of the health and well-being team. A referral to the well-being team also allows for early identification of a student’s needs. Students who may need additional support are identified and will spend short periods of time with the health and well-being team talking on a 1:1 basis, sharing their anxieties and worries. This gives staff a deeper understanding of where to signpost a student’s needs.
When students and young people feel good about themselves, feel that their life is going well, then they will feel more confident to get on with their daily lives.
A few simple steps can make a real difference in students achieving a happy and healthy life now and in the future. These include:
- Forming and maintaining positive relationships
- Eating a balanced diet
- Taking time to relax
- Recognising when help and support is needed and how to access it
- Learning about and recognising safe behaviour and choices
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Tutor Time
At The Coppice Academy we know how important talking is. Every morning in Tutor time, students are given breakfast and take part in Votes for Schools activities or discuss local events and social skills where students are encouraged to speak and to discuss healthy and non-healthy opinions. This gives staff the opportunity to get to know their group well, allowing them the opportunity to sign post students that they feel would benefit from some additional well-being support.
We all have times when it feels hard to talk to those closest to us about things which are bothering us. Often this can be because we don’t want to worry them or we are afraid of what they might say. Tutor time is there to help when a child is feeling like this. We will listen to the child carefully, not judging them, but look to help them understand what might be bothering them and help to find ways to cope with their challenges or emotions.
The types of problems that often come up in Tutor time include:
- Family difficulties
- School difficulties
- Relationships
- Loss and bereavement
- Friendship issues
- Lack of confidence
- Anger
- Behaviour issues
- Transition
- Anxiety
- Low mood
Students can also be referred to us by Parents, staff or other professionals (a short waiting list may apply in some cases). In the first instance the students will be seen on a 1:1 basis by a member of the Health & Wellbeing team.
Following this initial meeting, we will review and see if talk time is still needed. If so, sessions will be arranged either by 1:1 or the student may be put into a social group with other students experiencing the same kind of issue. (Please be assured your child would never be asked to talk about something personal or private in a group setting). We offer several different groups which look at the areas mentioned above. These groups take place during school hours and are carried out on a rota basis.
Five ways to Wellbeing
At The Coppice Academy we try to include the five ways to wellbeing in everyday life. These are nationally recognised strategies that can be used to improve everybody’s wellbeing daily.
CONNECT – With the people around you. With family, friends and neighbours. At home, work, school or in your local community.
BE ACTIVE – Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Time in the garden. Dance.
TAKE NOTICE - Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are walking to school, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling.
KEEP LEARNING – Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at school. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food.
GIVE - Do something nice for a friend or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in.
We recently did a school assembly and presented the following to all students and staff : click here