We pride ourselves on being a mental health aware school!
Our staff are trained in 'Emotion Coaching' and 'Restorative' practices, and use these strategies to support our pupils every day. Our behaviour triangles and school code of conduct are based around these practices and are designed to enable a positive self and growth mindest in all members of the school community.Â
We have a designated Mental Health Lead (Mrs Parsons) who has accredited training and qualifications in supporting the mental health of staff and pupils.  Our pupil and staff well-being champion (Ms Bevan) worked as a qualified social worker prior to moving into the school system. She is a trained Drawing and Talking therapist, Block Therapy practitioner and holds other accredited training and qualifications to assist in supporting the mental health and well being of pupils, their families and staff members. Ms Bevan is available every morning to support pupils who need it with individually targeted or small group work. Our ELSA worker (Mrs Deeley) is available for 6-12 week interventions with pupils identified as requiring 1-1 or small group support with their emotional literacy. We also offer weekly nurture groups to support children in managing their emotions and feelings.  Our Forest School provision also provides an opportunity for pupils in every year group to connect with nature in a mindful and fun way; we hope this in turn leads to an improvement in their mood, a reduction of stress and promotes the overall wellbeing for each student.
Every child has the oppourtunity to access a 1:1 mental health check-in as required. We also follow the Community Academy Trust policy "You Matter, We Care" to enable all pupils to share their voice at regular intervals throught the academic year. Â
As a school we also regularly access support from external agencies such as Action for Children, Choices counselling service (including Equine Therapy), New Era and Malachi. We are also a Mental Health Support Team linked school so are able to have consulations/make referrals surrounding children who have been identifed as requiring low level support (CBT) either individually or in small groups, parent work can also be provided.
 Below is a link to the support that our school and those in our academy trust offer for mental health and well-being.
Every Mind Matters
Public Health England, with support from some of the most respected organisations in the field, launched a new mental health campaign called “Every Mind Matters” on 7th October 2019.
Every Mind Matters aims to support everyone to feel more confident in taking action to look after their mental health and wellbeing by promoting a range of self-care actions.
Go to https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters for more information.
Malachi are commisioned by Staffordshire County Council to work holistically with families in the boroughs of Lichfield, Cannock Chase and Tamworth.
We complete 6 week (student only) interventions at school, 12 week family interventions at school or home and up to 6 month targeted family work at school, home and in the community.
All of our work is done at Tier 2 level. For any of our family work, we are required to complete an Early Help Assessement (EHA). This is a simple way to help identify needs of children and families and make a plan to meet those needs. Once completed, we can work together to achieve the goals set out on this plan and make any changes that are necessary.