Mental Health
Woodland Primary School are pleased to have secured our very own Beacon counsellor; Katie Long. She will start working with some of our children in Summer half term 2. Beacon Counsellors are all qualified to Diploma level or beyond and have substantial experience of working with young people. Beacon staff are skilled in using a diverse range of age and development appropriate therapeutic techniques, this allows for the service to be individualised for each child.
Woodland Community Primary School continues to ensure that the mental health and wellbeing of our students is a top priority we have appointed a member of the teaching staff to act as the Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead and representative for our students.
In support of this, Youth Mental Health First Aid Training has been completed by two members of the Inclusion Team and further training is to be considered. Our Mental Health & Wellbeing Lead is working collaboratively alongside the members of the Inclusion Team to implement a whole school offer for Mental Health and Wellbeing that will act as thorough guidance and policy to support the teaching and therefore learning of all students.
The delivery of Place2be sessions continue on a weekly basis where identified children are supported through 1:1 play and mental heath support. We continue to deliver
additional support session such as Drawing and Talking Therapy and Wellbeing Dominoes.
CPD continues to be considered for all staff at school who support children with additional mental health and well-being needs. Teachers and Teaching assistants have received a range of CPD (provided by the Local Authority) such as 5 ways to Wellbeing, Social Stories, Separation Anxiety and Comic Strip Sessions.
Further training will continue throughout the academic year to fully support and reinforce the interventions that are being planned throughout school.
At Woodland Community Primary School, we use myHappymind to help create a positive mental wellbeing culture where children can build resilience, self-esteem, and character. myHappymind uses the latest research, science and technology to help children develop lifelong habits and learn to thrive.
myHappymind is taught across the whole school in weekly sessions, and consists of 5 units:
Meet Your Brain – Learning about how our brains work.
Celebrate – Understanding our character strengths and celebrating ourselves.
Appreciate – Developing gratitude as a habit.
Relate – Building positive relationships.
Engage – Engaging with the world.
Look out for more information, pictures and quotes from the children as we roll out myHappymind across our school.
