For the past few years we have been working towards our Wellbeing Award for schools, which demonstrate how wellbeing and mental health in our pupils, staff and parents are at the forefront of our school’s vision of leading a mentally healthy school.

We are thrilled to say that in June 2021 we successfully completed the award and had a glowing report! (See below)

Here is a little bit about our journey:  In September 2019, we made the commitment to work towards the Wellbeing Award for Schools (WAS) and we have been using a framework for reviewing our current provision in relation to mental health and emotional wellbeing. We were expected to demonstrate our commitment to the following:

• promoting mental health as a part of everyday life;
• improving the emotional wellbeing of our children and staff;
• ensuring mental health problems are identified early and appropriate support provided;
• offering provision and interventions that match the needs of our children and staff;
• raising awareness of the importance of mental health awareness;
• Capturing the views of parents, pupils and teachers on mental health issues.

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 wellbeing 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.