Mental Health and Wellbeing

At Howbridge Infant School, we are committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children, parents, carers, staff and the wider community. Being able to manage and share feelings, cope with setbacks, be sensitive to others’ feelings and needs, managing worries and stress and knowing when and who to ask for help are essential skills we aim to develop in every child. We also offer support, advice, information and sign-posting to parents/carers and staff.

At our school, we aim to:

• Set out our school’s approach to promoting positive mental health and wellbeingfor all children across our school.
• Provide guidance to staffon their role in supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing, including how they can foster and maintain an inclusive culture in which children feel able to talk about and reflect on their experiences of mental health.
• Support staff to identify and respond to early warning signsof mental health issues.
• Inform children and their parents/carersabout the support they can expect from our school in respect of children’s mental health and wellbeing, and provide them with access to resources.

As part of our school’s commitment to promoting positive mental health and wellbeing for all children, our school offers support to all children by: 

• Raising awareness of mental health through assemblies, the Children’s Health Projectand our PSHE curriculum to help pupils to build important life skills.
• Offering regular support from a mindfulness mentor who teaches the children positive mindset and self-regulations strategies.
• Havingopen discussions about mental health during PSHE lessons.
• Using feelings boxes/worry monsters/calm tables or corners and an open-door policy in each classroom to provide children with the chance to provide feedback on any elements of school or home that is negatively impacting their mental health.
• Monitoringall children’s mental health through assessments, e.g., pupil questionnaire, pupil progress meetings, parents’ evenings and regular contact between teachers and parents.
• Havinghome/school communication books for children who require more regular updates.
• Having anallocated buddy for all new children.
• Offering pastoral support where needed.
• Providing extra transition sessionsand meet the teacher sessions if needed when a child is new to the school.
• Providing a range of physical lunchtime activities and quieter lunchtime activities to promote mental health and wellbeing and support for children who may find busy lunchtimes stressful.
• Using the zones of regulationas a positive behaviour system to promote talking about feelings and emotions and strategies to self-regulate.
• Signpostingall parents to sources of online support on our school website.

At a strategic level we also further demonstrate our commitment to positive mental health and wellbeing by;

• Having a designated Mental Health Lead (Mrs H. Appleton) with a strategic oversight of our whole school approach to mental health and a wellbeing, PSHE Lead (Miss R. Banks).
• Regularly reviewing our Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy, action plan and provision map.

Future plans for the academic year 2025-2026 include:

• A lunch time action plan for more opportunities for practical play and planned lunchtime games.
• To continue to work with our mindset mentor from MiniMe Mindfulness on strategies to support self-regulation and the techniques for positive mindfulness.
• Work with parents to enable them to use a range of techniques at home.

What do I do if I am worried about my child’s mental health or wellbeing?

• Go to your GP as a first port of call as they are a useful place to gain medical support and signposting of local services, or speak to a School Nurse. Referrals for the School Nurse service can be made both through your GP or via a parent phone call or drop in to the school office. 
• Talk to your child’s class teacher about your child’s needs or your concerns.
• Talk to the Mental Health Lead or SENCo in school.​

Online Resources and Support

Please take a look at our Social, Emotional and Mental Health Provision Map. It demonstrates the range of provision available to our learners throughout our school. It is an ongoing self-evaluation process which requires us to continuously audit, plan, implement and review the provision in our school to enable us to meet the needs of all children within the school setting. It details the three types of provision: Universal, targeted and personalised. 

It provides details of local support and other useful contacts and links.

Essex County Council have published a document called ‘Let’s Talk’.