Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing
At Ludlow CE School, we share a single vision of “Excellence Together”, where staff and students aim to make excellence a habit in all that we do. This vision is bound together with our Christian values of excellence, resilience and care. For our young people, and the adults in our school community, to be able to achieve this excellence, to enjoy success in their lives, we must support good mental health and emotional wellbeing in school, and enable them to develop the resilience and confidence to manage different situations.
Our students need to feel happy and safe in school, and this starts with having a very clear expectation of how students should behave in school, how they relate to their peers, and the consistent way that we deal with peer issues and bullying. Our Behaviour for Learning and Anti-Bullying policies provide details of how we ensure positive behaviour and healthy relationships in school.
We make sure our students feel confident in talking about their mental health and wellbeing, ensuring that they are well-informed about recognising the signs of anxiety or stress in themselves and their friends, and the support strategies they can use. Our tutor time activities, Healthy Lifestyles focus days at Key Stage 3, and Relationships, Sex and Health Education sessions (RSHE) at Key Stage 4, are key vehicles for teaching students about mental health and wellbeing.
We also ensure that our staff are trained to recognise the early signs of mental health problems, what is and isn’t a cause for concern, and what to do if they think they have identified a developing problem. Providing early effective support is crucial and we play a key role in prevention, identification and early intervention. However, we ensure that we swiftly refer students with mental health problems to work with experienced skilled professionals, and we continue to work with them to inform and review the cycle of support.
We also communicate with parents and carers about our concerns, and provide advice on how we can work together to help their child. We make sure that we signpost professional support available in the local community for our students and their parents.
Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy explains in more detail how we promote positive mental health and wellbeing within our school community. You will also find links to useful guides to supporting your child.