Our school is committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our pupils. We know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support. We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play.  

 At our school we:

• help children to understand their emotions and feelings better                             
• help children feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries
• help children socially to form and maintain relationships
• promote self worth and ensure children know that they are valued as unique individuals 
• encourage children to be confident and express  their own views 
• help children to develop emotional resilience and manage setbacks 

We offer different levels of support:

Universal Support- We support the Social Emotional and Mental Health needs of all our pupils  through our ethos and our wider curriculum. This includes: warm and welcoming ethos where all are valued, daily Collective Worship, staff trained to provide universal support, PSHE curriculum, PE curriculum, Behaviour Policy, Anti-Bullying Policy, SEND Policy, use of zones of regulation, Mental Health Awareness week, Values Week, Health and We'll-Being Week, Daily Mile, pupil class advocates, play leaders, singing playground leaders.

Additional support- For those who may have short term needs and those who may have been made vulnerable by life experiences such as bereavement. This might include: short term informal check-ins with a class teacher or another allocated member of staff, meet and greet from a key adult, SEMH targets and identified additional support to meet them.

Targeted support-  For pupils who need more differentiated support and resources or specific targeted interventions this is likely to include signposting families to other trained professionals leading to multi-agency working.

It is important to note that 'School staff are not expected to, and should not, diagnose mental health conditions or perform mental health interventions.' (Promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges, DFE September 2021)

Your GP is able to offer medical advice and support on mental health for parents, carers and children. Our SEMH Lead (Mrs Mupesa) can offer advice and support about how parents and carers can support their child's mental health at home and additional support that school might be able to provide.  She can also signpost familes to other organisations which might be able to offer support.  

If you are under 25 and registered with a GP in Birmingham, you can receive support from Pause and Forward Thinking Birmingham. They also provide support for parents and carers who are concerned about their child or young person’s wellbeing.

The Pause website has information about how to access support from their sevice.

Pause can:

• We can recommend  strategies and techniques that aim to make life easier – for example, how to manage a panic attack, how to improve sleep or how best to communicate with family and friends etc.
• We will give  practical suggestions and advice – this might be suggesting you to look at a website or to contact another service.
• We can provide a listening ear if you have something you want to get off your chest.

Pause can’t:

• We won’t assess or diagnose any conditions.
• We won’t automatically make referrals into other services.
• We won’t necessarily have to tell anyone that you have spoken to Pause.

Forward Thinking Birmingham (FTB) is a unique, innovative community and inpatient mental health partnership that offers care pathways of mental health assessment and treatment for young people from 0–25-year-old. The Forward Thinking Birmingham website has links to many resources to identify ways to support children and young people's mental health.