Wellbeing – Support for Parents

Wellbeing Provision

We aim to make our school a place for children and young people to experience a nurturing and supportive environment that has the potential to develop self-esteem and give positive experiences for overcoming adversity and building resilience.

We seek to implement positive ways of talking about and removing the stigma around mental health, such as using our ‘No Outsiders’ programme to reinforce and celebrate values of tolerance, difference and diversity.

There has been considerable impact on the mental health and wellbeing of children from the additional provision we offer, above and beyond everyday classroom practice, which includes but is not limited to:

• Emotional Literacy Support Assistants
• Smaller group work e.g. 10-10-10 group splits
• Enrichment
• Forest Schools
• Therapeutic Forest Intervention
• Earth Adventurers
• Year 6 Wellbeing Ambassadors

Our pastoral and wellbeing teams also work closely with children and their families to offer personalised, targeted support, signposting to appropriate external agencies.

Our Wellbeing Team have also been very busy collating an incredible resource for our whole school community, a Padlet page with a vast array of links and resources for any children who may have additional needs. 

It has links for videos and visuals about a whole host of issues and also collates all information about local services within Trafford and Greater Manchester.

Help at home for parents and carers

You could have a go at using  The Zones of Regulation if you need to, to support any emotion coaching children at home. This is a reflection of what we use in school.

The Zones framework provides strategies to teach children to become more aware of and independent in controlling their emotions and impulses, manage their sensory needs, and improve their ability to problem solve conflicts. Emotions are categorised into 4 zones;

The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions.  A person may be hysterical, elated or experiencing extreme emotions such as anger, rage, devastation, or terror when in the Red Zone. 

The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions, however one has more control when they are in the Yellow Zone.  A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.  

The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone.  This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.  

The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness and down feelings such as when one feels sad, tired or bored.

Emotion Coaching

Emotions…we all have them. Everything we do and everything we learn is shaped in some way by the way we feel. Feelings are a natural part of who we are. But how do children and young people learn about emotions? How do they learn to understand their sadness or joy? What is appropriate behaviour when these feelings are strong? What can a parent do when a child or young person explodes in anger or hides in fear? Parents and teachers spend lots of time teaching children and young people important things such as reading or tying shoes. Taking time to help children learn to understand their feelings is important too.

Research shows that children and young people who understand their feelings and learn about their emotions have these advantages:

• They form stronger friendships with other peers.
• They calm themselves down more quickly when they get upset.
• They do better in school.
• They become empowered to problem-solve.
• They become more resilient when things go wrong.

Sleep, Relaxation, and Positivity

Below you will find several links for help with sleep and positivity.

Bedtime Gratitude – An excellent way of developing gratitude is to purposely remember things during the day that we have been grateful for. Before bedtime, pick up one of these cards (PDF attached below) and write three things from that day that you are grateful for.

Further Information for Supporting Parents and Carers

Signposts to external agencies and links to support children’s mental health and wellbeing at home