Mental Health and Wellbeing
At Chawson First School we believe that for every child to achieve their best, they have to be fit and well (both physically and mentally). We recognise that life can be difficult for children, at times, and we are committed to working with every child, and their family to ensure that support is put in place to help with whatever is causing upset or difficulty, as and when it is needed.
As a school, every member of staff is committed to the mental health and wellbeing of every one of our children. We have a nurturing, caring environment that allows everyone to feel safe and promotes a culture of talking about and sharing any worries, concerns and opinions. Throughout our curriculum and day to day work, we model and support children to develop their resilience and learn strategies for expressing and controlling their emotions and behaviours at times they are feeling anxious, worried or down. Each week children select an activity to complete which promotes a "healthy body/healthy mind".
At Chawson we are also very aware that children do not always show when they are finding things difficult at school because they do not know how to share this or they hold everything in until they come home. This allows them to let the emotions flow when away from teachers and friends, therefore avoiding embarrassment and perceived judgements. If you feel that you, or your child, is suffering at the moment or at any time (no matter how small you think the issue is) then please do not hesitate to contact school through your child’s class teacher or see Mrs Wood (Assistant Headteacher). If you would rather, you can phone or email to speak to us or request a phone call back.
You could also come along to any of our monthly early help drop in sessions to share your concerns and frustrations in a safe space and get some handy helpful tips to try, useful resources and useful website links.
If you are not quite ready to speak to us or you are just interested to find out more about supporting positive mental health and wellbeing, please make use of the resources and website links below. We hope you find them useful.
If you want to know how we support children at any level of need see the Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing School Support Pathway in the school documents section.
Remember at Chawson the door is always open and we are here to listen and help!
This Year we welcome Bonnie into our school family.
Bonnie is our school wellbeing mentor dog and will gradually be spending more time with children in the classrooms on a weekly basis and with individual children, supporting to reduce anxiety, boost confidence and enhance wellbeing.
To find out more about her work keep an eye out for updates on the school Facebook page, newsletter and in the curriculum enrichment section of the website.
