At St Charles’ School, we recognise that it is good to talk about how we are feeling and we actively encourage this. We all have times when we don’t feel as happy as usual, we may feel stressed or frightened. As a school community, we strive to support those with mental health difficulties and provide strategies and support to help within school and when necessary, from external agencies.
At St Charles’ School, we are also dedicated to promoting positive mental health for all children, their families and staff. Research has shown that good mental health helps us to cope well with everyday life, manage challenging situations and form and maintain good relationships as well as many other elements.
Here at St Charles’, we have many different activities and celebrations to promote mental wellbeing. These include:
Nurture Groups
We are very lucky to have specially trained professionals from the Derbyshire Nurture Team visit school every week to work with groups of children. We also run Lego Therapy sessions and have several other small group interventions focussed on giving children an informal atmosphere in which to discuss any issues they may be experiencing.
PSHE Curriculum
We have a broad PSHE curriculum which incorporates several programmes of study including: One Decision, Journey in Love and Ten:Ten Resources. One of the main aims of the curriculum is to educate children about what it means to be ‘mentally healthy’ and how to deal with any issues they may be having by making them aware of different people who they can talk to.
Extra-Curricular Activities
Research suggests that one great way to promote mental wellbeing is through outdoor physical activity. At St Charles’, we offer a range of activities on offer to the children both in school time and after school. These include Forest Schools, Commando Joes, Football, Basketball, Dance, Multi-Skills, Gymnastics, Swimming and Drama.
Walk and Talk
When school re-opened after lockdown in 2020, we replaced our afternoon break with ‘walk and talk’. This is a more structured time where children are put into pairs and encouraged to walk around the playground talking about anything they like. We have found this a great way of getting the children widening their friendship groups while getting some welcomed exercise and fresh air.
Themed Days
To continue to promote mental health and wellbeing, we take part in theme days throughout the year. Recent days we have taken part in include Internet Safety Day, Hello Yellow and World Mental Health Day.
