Skip to content ↓

Mental Health and Well-Being

At Fitzwaryn School we are committed to supporting the mental health and well-being of our staff, pupils and the wider school community.

We understand that everyone experiences life challenges that can, at times, make us vulnerable and additional emotional support may be required during these periods.

We all have a role to play in promoting and supporting positive mental health and recognise that developing resilience and using coping strategies early on is vital to ensure good mental health can be retained/ restored quickly.

                                

At Fitzwaryn we support all pupils by:

  •  helping them to understand their emotions and feelings better                             
  •  helping them feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries
  •  supporting them with communication and social skills to interact, form and build relationships
  •  promoting self-esteem and ensuring they know that they count and their views/ opinions matter
  •  encouraging them to be confident, embrace their differences and celebrate who they are
  •  working with them to develop emotional resilience and develop coping strategies to manage   setbacks

 

We have dedicated members of staff in place to support the mental health and well-being needs of our school community.

We have a full safeguarding team, led by Tracy Gardiner, Deputy Headteacher

Jane Pierce (HLTA), is an accredited Mental Health First Aider, supporting our staff team and is also our behaviour lead.

Clair Taylor (OSLO), has completed the Senior Mental Health Lead course with Leeds Beckett University funded by the DfE. She has a Level 2 qualification in Understanding Children and Young People’s Mental Health and is an accredited Youth Mental Health First Aider, alongside holding a number of other mental health certificates.  She has been attending the local Youth in Mind Conference in recent years, a collaboration between Oxfordshire Mind & Oxfordshire Youth.

Rose Kight (Teacher), is overseeing the Tree House and interventions with pupils. She is currently working on resource packs to support mental health and wellbeing in the classroom.

Tammy BunceGosia Zaprawa and Chloe Richards (Teaching Assistants), have carried out in-depth training to be ELSAs (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) and deliver targeted support to pupils across the school.

Orsi Winton (Teacher), is an accredited Youth Mental Health First Aider and will be supporting the work of the MH & Wellbeing Team.

                                                        

In addition to this we have also invested in whole school staff training on supporting the mental health needs of our pupils and many of our teaching assistants have carried out additional training in specific interventions, such as Drawing and Talking.

Support is structured according to the needs of the individual child and can include:

  •  Universal Support - To meet the needs of all our pupils, as outlined above, through our overall   ethos and our wider curriculum offer.
  •  Additional support - For those who may have short term needs and those who may have been   made vulnerable by life experiences such as bereavement.  
  •  Targeted support - For pupils who need more differentiated/ ongoing support and resources or   specific targeted interventions such as wellbeing groups or personal mentor time.

  

World Mental Health Day on the 10th October, saw Senior School pupils, supported by Kirsty Taylor & the team of teaching assistants, plan and deliver activities based on promoting positive mental health.
All members of the school community had the opportunity to access various activities across the day. The activities included, popcorn making as a healthy snack, glow in the dark disco dancing to keep active, making calm jars or positive affirmation jars, the very popular photo booth to raise awareness and lots of other fun- as you can see from our pictures.
A comment from one of our pupils in senior school was "It is just as important to look after your mental health as your physical health!" 
 
 
 
                             
 

Useful Website Links

BBC Headroom

Mind

YoungMinds

Cosmic Kids Yoga

NHS Every Mind Matters

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Oxfordshire

Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families

Action for Happiness

Samaritans

NSPCC

Childline

Papyrus

Mental Health and Well-being Apps

WellMind- NHS

Headspace- meditation and mindfulness

Relax melodies

5 Ways to Wellbeing

Couch to 5K

SAM- Self-help for Anxiety Management

Elefriends

Samaritans

Smiling Mind

Mindshift

Anxious Minds