At St Teresa's Catholic Primary School, the care, support and guidance of every pupil is of the utmost importance to us. We believe the pupil’s safety and wellbeing should be at the heart of all that we do as a school community. We approach the welfare of our pupils in a positive way and all our staff reinforce the values and ethos of the school. We want our children to stay happy, feel secure and enjoy being at school.

Within our role we aim to:

• Respect each child as an individual and to give each child the confidence and self-esteem to develop his or her talents to the full.
• Develop the whole child intellectually, morally, socially, spiritually and physically.
• Develop an effective three-way partnership between children, parents and school.
• Promote our children’s self-esteem and encourage them to think positively about themselves and to accept their own uniqueness.
• Provide opportunities for the children to feel valued and important by creating an awareness of the positive contribution they can make towards school and the community.

We endeavour to ensure all our children feel able to talk freely and openly to any member of staff if they have any worries or problems of any kind. Staff always respond to children in an appropriate manner, offering support, reassurance, advice and guidance in conjunction with our policies; including our safeguarding policy.

St Teresa’s is committed to the health and wellbeing of all its staff.  We acknowledge the duty of care we have towards all staff and recognise the importance of supporting and promoting wellbeing within the workplace. We aim to:

• Support the wellbeing of all staff to avoid negative impacts on their mental and physical health
• Provide a supportive work environment for all staff
• Acknowledge the needs of staff, and how these change over time
• Allow staff to balance their working lives with their personal needs and responsibilities
• Help staff with any specific wellbeing issues they experience
• Ensure that staff understand their role in working towards the above aims

Pastoral Support Manager and Senior Mental Health First Aider

Mrs Anna Kerr

What does a Mental Health First Aider do?

• watch for the early signs of a mental health problem 
• guide and encourage someone towards the right support
• help someone recover faster
• provide help on a first aid basis

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Mind Fitness

(Source:  westkentmind.org.uk)
 

Evidence suggests that incidents of mental health problems are increasing in children.  In response to the growing statistics, West Kent Mind created MH4 Schools.  The project trains staff in Mental Health First Aid and the Mind Fitness programme, along with other training.

Key outcomes from the Mind Fitness programme are:

• Mind Fitness trained staff will have an understanding of the 6 ways to wellbeing and, using the session plans provided by West Kent Mind and MH4 Schools, will support pupils in learning and speaking about mental health and wellbeing
• Mind Fitness sessions will help to reduce stigma and discrimination within our school
• Staff/Pupils will have a greater understanding of their own and others mental health
• Staff/Pupils will feel more comfortable talking about mental health
• Pupils will know who to talk to in our school i.e. class teachers, teaching assistants, the Senior Mental Health First Aider, if they are worried about themselves or their friends
• Create a sustainable culture change and ensure our whole school has increased mental health resilience and literacy

Ask your children about the Mind Fitness classes at St.Teresa's

Mental Health Resources and Information