Mental Health & Wellbeing

Wellbeing

Here at St Lukes CE Primary, we understand the need for everyone in our school to have a healthy lifestyle. We actively promote physical, emotional and Mental health and aim to equip pupils with the understanding and skills they need to make informed decisions about their health, both now and in the future.

We are delighted as a school to be linked with Mental Health Support Teams.  Please see the leaflet for further information.

We use a Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) scheme called Jigsaw to help us provide engaging lessons around a range of subjects.

We are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our pupils and staff. We know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable 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-esteem and ensure children know that they count.
• encourage children to be confident and ‘dare to be different’;
• help children to develop emotional resilience and to manage setbacks.

We offer different levels of support:

Universal Support- To meet the needs of all our pupils through our overall ethos and our wider curriculum. For instance, developing resilience for all.

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 support and resources or specific targeted interventions such as Mental Health support team (MHST).

Lead staff member: Lead Mental Health - Paula Irwin

Mental Health Support Team (MHST)

Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) have been designed to expand access to early mental health care for children and young people by providing additional support through schools and colleges that have signed up.

MHSTs have 3 core functions:

• To deliver evidence-based interventions for mild-to-moderate mental health issues.
• To support the mental health lead in each linked school or college to introduce or develop a Whole School Approach to supporting mental health.
• To give timely advice to school and college staff and liaise with external specialist services to help children and young people to get the right support.

Each Mental Health Support Team is expected to deliver services to a population of around 8,000 pupils or up to 20 education settings in each area.

MHST workforce include Educational Mental Health Practitioners who are trained in evidenced based interventions, alongside senior staff such as Mental Health Practitioners, CBT Therapists, and Specialist Mental Health Practitioners.