Pupil Wellbeing Support at Norbridge Academy
Mrs Whittington – SENDCO & DT Teacher
Mrs Townsend – Mental Health Lead, ELSA & Family Liaison Officer
Ms Parkinson – PHSE Co-ordinator
Mental Health & Wellbeing Newsletters 2023/24
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Nottinghamshire Family Hub Newsletters
We have identified several children that could be great candidates for a new role in school – Mental Health Ambassador. The children below have been awarded with their certificates and badges and will actively support staff members with the wellbeing of other pupils, in a range nurturing activities throughout the school day.
World Mental Health Day 2023
Children across school participated in a range of activities to help support and raise awareness of mental health. These ranged from stories at home time to mindfulness colouring and meditation.
Children’s Mental Health Week 5th – 11th February 2024
The week is aimed at raising awareness of children’s and young people’s mental health.
This year’s theme is ‘My Voice Matters’.
What’s it all about?
My Voice Matters is about empowering children and young people by providing them with the tools they need to express themselves.
When we feel empowered, this can have a positive impact on our wellbeing. Children and young people who feel that their voices are heard and can make a difference have a greater sense of community and self-esteem. This year, we want children of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to be empowered to work together to create a positive change for their mental health and wellbeing.
During Children’s Mental Health Week we want all children and young people, whoever they are, and wherever they are in the world, to be able to say – and believe – “My Voice Matters”.
To find out more please visit About – Children’s Mental Health Week (childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk)
During the school week, children will be participating in a range of activities aimed at supporting mental health and well-being. Please look at our Twitter pages and school website for more details of how your child’s class has participated. We will be ending our week with a non-uniform day – Dress to Express, leaving it up to the children to decide how to express themselves!
Dress to Express will take place on Friday 9th February. Donations are gratefully appreciated and donated to the charity above.
ELSA Support
An ELSA in a school is an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant. There is a recognised ELSA training course aimed specifically at training skilled staff in school. Examples of things covered on the course are social skills, emotions, bereavement, social stories and therapeutic stories, anger management, self-esteem, counselling skills such as solution focus and friendship.
Norbridge Self Care Challenge – look after your mental health by taking part in one of our daily challenges!
Day 1 – Write a diary of your day
- What did you do today?
- What do you appreciate about today?
- What made you smile today?
- Did anyone make you laugh today?
Day 2 – Meditate for 5 minutes or mindful minutes
- Use YouTube to find guided meditations – search guided meditation for children or download Headspace
- You could also try deep breathing exercises – these can be found on YouTube!
- Breathe in through you nose for 4 seconds
- Hold you breath for 4 seconds
- Breathe out through your mouth for 6 seconds.
Day 3 – Go for a 30 minute walk
When outside think about:
- What can you hear?
- What can you smell?
- What can you see?
- Did you notice anything that you haven’t noticed before?
Day 4 – YOGA
Use YouTube to find some child friendly yoga pages. Cosmic Kids Yoga is brilliant for children.
Day 5 – Call a friend
- Call a friend to just see if they’re ok, have a chat and make each other feel good.
Day 6 – Read a book alone
- Take some quiet reading time for yourself today, I recommend around 15 minutes.
Day 7 – Mindfulness colouring
- Print off some mindfulness colouring sheets to colour in – I like to do this quietly or with some music.
- Draw your own mindfulness colouring sheet.
Childline
Support for Families
Resolving Parent Conflict
A new resource has been developed aimed at helping parents resolve their everyday disagreements in a positive manner, mindful of the impact that an unhappy home atmosphere has on their children.
Please click on the link below to watch a short informative video created by Notts County Council titled ‘Relationships Really Matter; Resolving Parental Conflict.
Sleep Support
Toileting Advice
Behaviour
Bereavement & Loss
Loss could be losing a family member or the loss of a friendship group because of moving schools. Grieving is hard for everyone and it is usually a natural period of significant upset that changes over time.
It is common to experience the following things when you are grieving.
- Feeling numb or being in denial
- Being anxious and worried
- Feeling helpless and hopeless
- Anger
- Sadness and tearfulness
Some people talk about stages of grief (which is when you experience these things at different times), but people react differently to loss. Grief is all about adjusting to life without the person or thing that you have lost. People’s reaction to loss is often expressed in a change of behaviour, especially if they are younger. A person’s age has a big impact on their understanding of death, grief and loss:
- Infants have no real concept of death but they will react to some loss e.g. separation from parents can be interpreted as permanent loss of that parent.
- Toddlers have no real concept of death being a permanent condition, but they will easily pick up on anxiety and distress from the emotions of those around them.
- Preschool children begin to learn that death is something feared by adults. This age group may view death as temporary or reversible, like it often is in cartoons.
- School-age children are developing a more realistic understanding of death. Death may be represented as an angel, skeleton, or ghost. This age group is beginning to understand death as permanent, universal, and inevitable. They may be very curious about the process.
See below links to several charities which could offer support and guidance during a difficult time. In addition to the website links we have uploaded a variety of useful stories to help and support children who are dealing with the loss of a loved one.
Headlice Advice
Water Safety Advice