Who can I talk to at School?

Our Mental Health Leads are Ms Khan and Ms Slater and they are always happy to talk about anything you may be worried about. All our staff are ready to help and we will do whatever we can to support you and your child so please come and talk to us. Ms Khan has been trained as a Mental Health First Aider.

What is mental health and wellbeing?

We all have mental health, which is about our feelings, our thinking, our emotions and our moods.  Emotional wellbeing is about our ability to understand, control and express our emotions in a healthy way.   We think it’s important that by the time children leave St John’s we want them to know:

• that mental wellbeing is a normal part of daily life, in the same way as physical health
• that there is a normal range of emotions that all humans experience in relation to different experiences and situations
• how to recognise and talk about their emotions, including having a varied vocabulary of words to use when talking about their own and others’ feelings
• how to judge whether what they are feeling and how they are behaving is appropriate and proportionate
• the benefits of physical exercise, time outdoors, community participation, voluntary and service-based activity on mental wellbeing and happiness
• simple self-care techniques,
• isolation and loneliness can affect children and that it is very important for them to discuss their feelings with an adult and seek support
• that bullying (including cyberbullying) has a negative and often lasting impact on mental wellbeing and what they can do about it
• where and how to seek support from a trusted adult in school, such as their listening partner
• that seeking support quickly can help to resolve problems

How do we help our pupils to be ready for challenges?

We have a well-planned Relationships and Health Education curriculum that all children take part in each week. We follow the Jigsaw PSHE curriculum, which covers the topics Being Me in My World, Celebrating Difference, Dreams and Goals, Healthy Me, Relationships and Healthy Me. This curriculum helps our pupils to become emotionally literate, understand the importance of families and caring relationships, respect those who are different and feel comfortable about sharing their feelings and emotions as a normal part of school life.

A part of our school life we:

• have assemblies where we promote our school vision and values and talk about ‘big’ issues.
• actively promote equality so any pupils who feel different feel safe and secure and can be themselves
• teach about e-safety regularly in our PSHE and Computing lessons to enable pupils make good decisions online and protect themselves from harm.
• talk about bullying, including cyber bullying and what they can do it they think it is happening to them or others
• encourage pupils to be as physically active as possible.  Pupils also run the Daily Mile once a half term
• teach about healthy eating through our PSHE and science lessons and we help pupils to make healthy choices at lunchtime.
• fundraise regularly for different local and national charities so pupils can see how they can make a difference.

What do we have on offer here to help your child?

Meaningful Minds: A self-referral service to give pupils extra support for their emotional wellbeing. It is run by Gladys Barcelo every Tuesday lunchtime and children can sign up by putting a slip in her box in the lunch hall.

Art Therapy: We have an Art Therapist who work here at St John’s. Berrin Bates works with us every Tuesday, supporting children 1:1 with issues around bereavement, separation anxiety etc.

Child and Adult Mental Health Services (CAMHS): Islington CAMHS provides community mental health services to children, young people and their families with complex mental health difficulties, in a range of different ways depending on their needs. We can make referrals to CAMHS or if you prefer you can go via your GP.

Early Help: In Islington, the early help team are there for school to refer to if any extra support may be needed for your family.  This can range from providing information, to support in your home or recommending courses that might be helpful for you. You might already be using some of these services. Many organisations across Westminster provide early help and we try to work together to make it as easy as possible for you to get the right support, at the right time in the right place. At St John’s we have strong links with Early Help and we can put in touch with the right person.

School Well-being Service: Islington provides the service to support children within the school setting. They can help with emotional regulation, provided guided self-help for low mood or anxiety. They deliver whole school assemblies on a range of health topics also. They can also support parents with workshops on transitions, managing your child’s anxiety and relationships between emotions and emotional wellbeing. The service also helps deliver training for our staff so that we are able to deliver the support our young people may need throughout their time in Primary School.

School Nurse: Our School Nurse, Becky Muhima, is available for 1:1 referrals of children to support with concerns around sleep, weight control, personal hygiene, including oral hygiene, toileting and bet wetting to name a few. She attends many multi agency meetings and runs coffee mornings and workshops for both children and parents.

If you would like to find out about any of the services listed above or just want a chat then please contact the school office or any member of our staff.

Key websites for general information, advice and resources on child mental health and Wellbeing:

Tips for talking to children about mental health can be found using these two links:

https://mindedforfamilies.org.uk/
You’re-never-too-young-to-talk-mental-health.pdf

Supporting Emotional Regulation at St John’s

Parent’s Workshop Emotional Regulation

Calming and breathing strategies for parents to use with their children:

Finger Breathing Pooky – (Pooky Knightsmith)
Box Breathing Pooky (Pooky Knightsmith)

Lazy 8 Breathing Mindful Moments

What is mindfulness? How do you do it? (Cosmic Kids)
Be the pond (Cosmic Kids)

Zones of Regulation/Social and Emotional Development:

https://stjhv.islington.sch.uk/zones-of-regulationsocial-and-emotional-regulation/

General information:

Anna Freud
Young Minds

Mental health booklist

Mental health reading list.docx

The Expert Parent’s Guide to Childhood Anxiety

With featured advice and resources from The Children’s Society, an expert guide for parents is available here to help children understand, cope and become strengthened by their experiences of anxiety at a young age. The aim of the information is to equip parents across the world with a significant bank of knowledge to ease panic and educate their children about the science of the mind.

https://tutorful.co.uk/guides/the-expert-guide-to-help-your-child-with-anxiety