Mental Health and Wellbeing
On this page you will find information and links to help and support children and parents/carers in maintaining good mental health and wellbeing. It is always important to have ideas and support to enable us to look after ourselves and our children. We have added some links below, but if you are aware of any others that others in our community may find useful please let the school office.
You can also view our mindfulness page here
Good mental health is important for helping children and young people to develop and thrive. At Cotham Gardens, a whole school approach aims to provide a good education, supported by high quality pastoral care, to enable our pupils to develop into resilient adults with good mental health. This includes making sure that pupils and students know how to keep physically and mentally healthy.
We aim to create a safe and calm environment where mental health problems are less likely, improving the mental health and wellbeing of the whole school population, and equipping our pupils to be resilient so that they can manage the normal stress of life effectively.
Our strategy is underpinned by our school’s core values and golden rules:
Values
- Self-help: we help everyone to help themselves.
- Self-responsibility: it is up to us as individuals to make good choices.
- Democracy: we listen to each other and value what everyone says.
- Equality: we are all given the same chances to do our best.
- Equity: we make sure everyone is given the right support to reach their potential.
- Solidarity: we stick together.
Golden Rules
- Show respect
- Be kind
- Be responsible
- Try your best
The Mental Health and Well-being Lead works closely with the SENDCO, Designated Safeguarding Lead and Learning Mentors, to lead a graduated response:
Prevention: this includes teaching pupils and students about mental wellbeing through the curriculum and reinforcing this teaching through school activities and ethos.
Identification: recognising emerging issues as early and accurately as possible.
Early support: helping pupils and students to access evidence informed early support and interventions.
Access to specialist support: working effectively with external agencies to provide swift access or referrals to specialist support and treatment.
By providing an effective whole school approach to mental health and well-being we will see improved attainment, attendance, reductions in behavioural problems, as well as happier, more confident and resilient children.
School council
The school council meets twice a term to express the children's views on a range of issues, many closely related to Mental Health and Wellbeing, but also education and how the children feel about their learning.
In the last term the school council discussed the following:
- Playground development
- Girls football
- School lunches
- Safer Streets
Bristol Healthy Schools Mental Health and Well Being Award
What we're doing:
As part of the school's commitment to improving well being and promoting good mental health, this page contains information about all the relevant stuff that's going on in school, both in and out of the classroom.
We will try to keep you updated with relevant curriculum information, for instance PE and PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) as well as what's happening with the Family Support Team and the School Council. We have also set up a Mental Health and Well Being Action Team made up of staff, parents, governors and members of the wider community to promote our aims. And when we say action, we mean action! As a way to provide a structure to this increased emphasis on good mental health, Cotham Gardens Primary has started an application to gain the Bristol Healthy Schools Mental Health and Well Being Badge. We will keep you posted on how this is going. Finally, we will be adding useful links to the bottom of this page.
Useful Links:
Like all schools, we are becoming increasingly conscious of the helpful role we can play in promoting the mental health of children, staff and families.
Parenting, although rewarding, is not always easy and sometimes can be really challenging. Luckily there is help out there. One resource that comes highly recommended by other schools and families is the website of the charity Young Minds who seek to promote the mental health and well-being of children and young people. They have a free helpline available for parents (0808 802 5544) which provides confidential expert advice.
Click below for a link to the Children's Wellbeing page in the Parenthub section of our website- lots of interesting and helpful things to be found here.
A website that features links to a variety of MHWB websites and resources is the www.happymaps.co.uk website.
Other useful resources can be found at:
Bristol Mental Health and Wellbeing
Also helpful is this page from the Mental Health Foundation's 'Make it Count' campaign.
Mental Health Foundation - resources for parents and caregivers
Parenting Courses on offer in Bristol:
Gingerbread, the charity supporting single parent families to live secure, happy and fulfilling lives:
Digital Wellbeing:
www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/hot-topics/digital-wellbeing
In June 2017 NHS Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group, in partnership with Bristol City Council, launched the Emotional Health & Wellbeing Online Directory. The Directory has been designed with the aim of providing a single, searchable source of information of different services and resources, including NHS commissioned providers such as CAMHS, Off The Record and www.kooth.com.