At St. Joseph’s, we feel passionately about educating the children so that they are aware of mental health issues whether that be their own or those of others. These powerful young minds are leading the fight for a future where all young minds are supported and empowered, whatever the challenges. We want to provide an effective and enjoyable teaching and learning environment, where children and young people flourish. Well-being is at the forefront of the school’s curriculum and promoting good mental health is a priority.
The aims of our mental health and PSHE curriculum is to:
- build each individual’s resilience, helping them cope better in difficult situations and prevent the onset of common mental health problems.
- create and develop a positive attitude towards the subject of mental health.
- enable children to acquire the knowledge and skills they need to successfully manage their lives in and out of school – right now as well as in the future.
- promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils
- support Bishop Terence’s vision for education;
The key tools for doing this come through the celebration of national Mental Health awareness days and our teaching of PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) and RHE (Relationship Health Education teaching.
PSHE
Here at St. Joseph’s these are taught through the Jigsaw curriculum and the TenTen ‘Life to the full’ curriculum. Both curriculum’s offer a whole school approach to try to equip all children with the tools required to lead a happy and healthy life. The Jigsaw approach looks to ‘piece together’ the personal, physical, social and wellbeing aspects of education whilst TenTen underpins this with a Christian faith.
Mental Health Day
Throughout the year we participate in numerous national day’s that support children’s mental health. There are the national Mental Health Awareness days and Weeks in the year but then also related days such as Anti-Bullying Week, Sport’s Week. This ensures that Mental Health is always at the forefront of the children’s mind and ensures they create links between Mental Health and other areas of life.
Headstart
HeadStart – giving all Middlesbrough’s children and young people the necessary support to build resilience to achieve good emotional health.
The aim of the HeadStart school programme is to make sure that children and young people are happy and enjoy their time at school. There are many things that impact on the emotional well-being of children; falling out with friends, the pressures of social media, keeping up with studies. We want all our pupils to have good emotional health, to have the skills and confidence to cope, solve problems, achieve well and be happy. HeadStart is a whole school approach where everyone feels safe and comfortable to be themselves, learn and develop in a positive environment and access support when needed.
HeadStart services through school are:
Staff development – our staff have access to training that enables them to be able to better respond to the emotional needs of pupils.
Headstart Reach partnership – delivering support to pupils who may be struggling at an early stage to stop issues from escalating.
Tootoot – a digital tool for pupils to self-report any issues of concern they may have is they would rather not speak in person.
Transition – support offered for young people to make the move from primary to secondary as easy as possible.
HeadStarters – a training pathway for young people to develop school based projects and support the delivery of HeadStart.
Our school is committed to the HeadStart principles to allow every young person to have the best possible experience and outcomes throughout their school journey.
Useful Links:
Daisy Chain – Family Support Service
Forget-Me-Not – Counselling and support Services
Rainbows – Bereavement Support
The Junction – Holistic needs based support for children
The Link – Mental Health and Emotional wellbeing
Tees Valley Sleep Service – Sleep Support and resources
