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 Bunce, Gosia 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.