Well-Being

Well-being and Mental Health at St Luke's School

Article 24 - All children have the right to high quality health.

How do we promote well-being at St Luke's School?

Here at St Luke's school we are passionate about the well-being of our students and staff. From daily practice of Oracy & PSHE sessions to Well-Being Wednesdays with our Facilitator Gerry, ELSA provision to Caring Cooks, we wholeheartedly believe that looking after the children’s well-being is fundamental to enabling them to be in the best place to learn.

Hi I am Amber Coupland and I am a Mental Health First Aider (MHFA)

I have always been interested in supporting positive mental wellbeing and the importance of this our everyday lives. I was lucky enough to be able to go on a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) course which taught me how to identify, understand and help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue. We did not learn how to be a therapist, but how to listen, reassure and respond, even in a crisis. It showed me how to develop the skills and confidence to approach and support someone who needs assistance. This may just be a listening ear or could be empowering someone to access any further support which they need which could include self help groups, websites talking to their GP etc. I am proud to be part of the Wellbeing Team at St Luke's School.
Please come and see me if you need support.

Please be aware that Mrs Coupland is currently on parental leave - in her absence please visit Mr Turner who will be able to direct you to our temporary MHFA.

We celebrated Children's Mental Health Week with the theme of Let's connect by each designing a person holding hands. We then displayed these around our school hall to remind us of our supportive community. We also have considered what a mentally health school should look like building on our work with Anna Freud. We used our most recent Well-being Wednesday to gather ideas for a very special outdoor sensory area that all children will be able to access to support their mental health and well-being. Watch this space for updates.

Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA)

We have a fabulous ELSA team in school who work with children either individually or in groups focusing on areas like friendships, managing emotions and understanding feelings.
There are many activities on the ELSA support website.

Emotional literacy is the term used to describe the ability to understand and express feelings. It involves having self-awareness and recognition of one’s own feelings and knowing how to manage them. Teaching emotional literacy is important for developing self-confidence, boosting self-esteem and developing healthy relationships.

There will always be children and young people in schools facing life challenges that detract from their ability to engage with learning. Some will require greater support to increase their emotional literacy than others. ELSA is an initiative developed and supported by Educational Psychologists. It recognises that children learn better, and are happier in school, if their emotional needs are also addressed.

We are lucky enough to have two fully qualified Emotional Literacy Support Assistant at St Luke's. Mrs Wilton & Mrs Barker have been trained by Educational Psychologists to plan and deliver programs of support to pupils who are experiencing temporary or longer term additional emotional needs. The majority of ELSA work is delivered on an individual basis, but sometimes small group work is more appropriate, especially in the areas of social and friendship skills. Sessions are fun- we use a range of activities such as: games, role-play with puppets and arts and craft.

Mrs Wilton

Mrs Barker

Well-being at home

Talking to our children about there well-being and enabling them to share and normalise any feelings they are having will help support their mental health.
Place2Be is a fantastic organisation championing the issue of children’s mental health, and they have some brilliant information for talking to children and top tips to look after everyone’s mental health.
We are fortunate to have lots of links with others in the community who champion well-being, and we work together to help make sure that our children’s well-being is being looked after. A big thank you to Tina Hesse for signposting the following: