Pupil Wellbeing

Our Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) curriculum from Nursery to Year 6 is taught through the Barnardo's PATHS programme, which is designed to facilitate the development of self-control, emotional awareness and interpersonal problem-solving skills. While PATHS is taught weekly across the school, key vocabulary, concepts and strategies are revisited throughout the week, supported by posters and visual reminders that you'll see inside our classrooms.

We have trained 24 of our Year 5 and 6s to be B's Buddies -  peer mentors who support other children during playtimes through:

• Talking to children who are lonely
• Helping children who are upset or frustrated to calm down using the PATHS® strategies
• Encouraging children to use ‘Fair Play Rules’ on the playground
• Playing games with children

B's Buddies support on both playgrounds during lunch times, and can be identified by their special B's Buddies lanyards!

In addition to our PSHE scheme, we use the principles of Zones of Regulation to support children's ability to identify and regulate their emotions. Our children learn that our feelings change all the time, and that feelings can be grouped into four 'zones' - blue, green, yellow and red. They learn that no feeling is 'bad' but that our goal is to develop (with support) a 'toolbox' of strategies that will help each of us to regulate and to reach the optimum zone - green zone - where we are most regulated and ready to learn.

We want all children to feel safe - both at school and at home - and know that making sure children have the space and means to communicate any worries is an important part of that. Each classroom has a worry box, through which children can communicate their worry in writing or request to speak to an adult that they trust. Worry boxes are checked daily by adults in class, and children know this is one way - but not the only way - to seek support if they feel upset, unsafe or have a concern.

Two of our Teaching Assistants are trained as ELSAs (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants), and support individuals and groups of children through weekly sessions. These may be one offs or part of a 6 weeks block of sessions, and aim to support children to address a specific need - for example building self-esteem or resilience, managing anxiety, or coping with change.

For some children, we recognise that more specialist support may be required in order to address personal, social or emotional needs, or to over-come barriers to wellbeing and learning. We are very lucky to have Korina - a Dance Movement Psychotherapist (DMP) - on our staff team, as well as working closely with DMP and play therapy students from Roehampton University. Our therapists support some of our children through weekly 'talk time' or therapy sessions, as well as working closely with our families and teaching staff so that we can better support children who may be struggling.