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
• refer on to partner agencies when necessary, for next-level support

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Our Partners

Since November 2023, our school has been working in partnership with the Emotional Wellbeing Team (EWT), which comes under the umbrella of NELFT (North East London NHS Foundation Trust).  NELFT is an NHS foundation trust which provides mental and community health services.  The EWT works with schools to provide in-house targeted emotional and wellbeing support.  In addition, they provide general wellbeing information through workshops, information for parents, assemblies, etc.  The team is able to support mild to moderate interventions and 1:1 support is for more intensive, higher level needs. They lead coffee morning for all parents in our school hall, where there are opportunities for informal conversations.  The EWT has provided a range of pupil workshops including several on Universal Worries and Friendships. These are arranged termly and are mostly for our KS2 pupils. 

From January 2025, the EWT will be introducing a new scheme in the school, 'Brain Buddies'.  The Brain Buddies group aims to develop children’s understanding of their emotions and their ability to regulate their feelings. Emotion regulation is the ability to manage our emotions and gain control over how we feel. We are all different, so some people find it easier than others to regulate their emotions. It is important to remember that at times everyone struggles to manage their emotions and younger children often need support with this.  The group is based on evidence-based practices that support the development of emotion regulation in children and young people. It is based on ‘Zones of Regulation’ which is an approach that the school uses as part of our pupil daily check-in. The group aims to teach children how to identify their feelings, to understand what happens in their body and brain when they have ‘big’ feelings, and to learn different skills to manage their emotions.

St. Teresa's also works closely with the young carers organisation, Imago.  The organisation offers support and opportunities to people, families, and communities across Kent and provides services which focus on improving health and wellbeing, tackling loneliness, building social and educational opportunities, and helping people access the right support.  A member of the team regularly meets with pupils in school, who have been identified as being able to benefit from the support that Imago offers.

As part of our mental health and wellbeing provision, the school will make referrals to the School Health Team for 1:1 counselling for pupils, when additional support would be beneficial, beyond what the school is able to offer.

Mind Fitness
 

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 trained staff in Mental Health First Aid and the Mind Fitness programme.

Key outcomes from the Mind Fitness programme are:

• Staff use the session plans provided by West Kent Mind and MH4 Schools, to support pupils in learning and speaking about mental health and wellbeing
• Mind Fitness sessions 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
• Help to ensure that our whole school has increased mental health resilience and literacy

This programme was previously delivered across all classes, throughout the academic year, from Foundation to Year 6.  It is now delivered on a needs-basis, as part of a range of strategies and resources.  The programme is used in addition to our whole PSHE curriculum.  The principles behind the programme remain fully embedded as part of our whole-school mental health approach.

Mental Health Resources and Information

For Parents