Mental Health and Wellbeing

Mental Health and Wellbeing at Eastry 

At Eastry, we support our pupil’s holistic development. We know that children are much more than their academic ability and we strive to promote good self-esteem and pride in our pupils. To support this endeavour, we have worked hard to become a Nurture Accredited school.

 
 
There are 6 principles that underpin Nurture practices to promote children’s well-being and emotional development; their developmental understanding of themselves and the world around them and giving them the language and understanding to communicate their needs successfully.  We offer Nurture through a variety of provisions across the school to enhance our Social, Emotional and Mental Health practices. 

Below is an overview of how we are currently working towards the 6 Principles of Nurture and what is on offer for our pupils at Eastry:

1.Children’s learning is understood developmentally
Boxall Profiles are created for children identified as having an SEMH need. The profile assessment enables us to gain a full picture of each child’s unique understanding of the world around them. From these assessments, we are able to create a bespoke package of support for them which enables them to make rapid progress in their SEMH development. 

2. The classroom offers a safe base
This aspect of Nurture UK, we are developing year on year, to ensure that it matches the needs of our pupils. We are working hard to ensure our classrooms are low arousal, calm spaces where our children feel safe, secure and ready to learn. Within each of our classrooms is a calm / reflection space for the children to access if they need to have some time to regulate themselves or co-regulate with an adult. 
At whole school level, we now offer a Soft-Landing club in the morning which offers children the opportunity to have a quieter start to the day in a small group with our Family Liaison Officer. Lunchtimes can be a difficult time for some children to manage so we have created a quieter, calmer space in our wooden hut on the playground where children can read, colour, draw or play board games with a friend or just relax on their own, if they choose to.  

3. The importance for Nurture for the development of Well-being
Staff have accessed training on attachment and trauma and the impact of developing strong relationships. Miss Gillmore, Mrs Inglis and Mr Cockram all hold the Trauma Informed Schools practitioner status and are able to deliver bespoke, personalised interventions to children who may struggle to process big emotions. 
As a result of our engagement with Trauma Informed Schools, our behaviour policy reflects these principles as we focus on a relational approach.  As a school we also offer our Soft-Landing club (see above) each morning for children who are struggling to transition from home to school.

4. Language is a vital means of communication
As a school we encourage pupil voice and listening to children's views and wishes. We provide children with tools for communication where they can share how they are feeling through means such as Zones of Regulation, visual support cards and boards, daily check-ins and Language Through Colour.  

5. All behaviour is a form of communication
Following our attachment and trauma training, we are aware that all behaviours are a form of communication for children. We champion the approach of connection before correction to ensure that our children feel safe and heard by the adults supporting them. Often, we will follow up these instances by offering either small group SEMH intervention, tweaking our whole class PSHE lessons and through 1:1 trauma informed intervention. On occasions, we use tools to help us better understand these behaviours such as the use of a personalised ABC chart which helps identify patterns in behaviours.

6. The importance of transitions in children's lives
We recognise transitions for children can be particularly difficult and for some, this can even be the smaller transitions within the day. As a school we ensure every class has their own visual timetable at the front of the room so all children can be prepared for what is coming next. Where appropriate, we use social stories to help reinforce change and transition and offer time to prepare, where possible.