Mental Health & Wellbeing

Our Senior Mental Health Lead Mrs A Charlton

At Moorside Primary Academy, we believe that it is important to recognise that we all have mental health. Our mental health impacts upon the way we think, feel and act towards others.

Our mental health changes on a daily basis and also, over time, for example, within a day. Our mental health can be affected by a range of factors. It is crucial that we dedicate as much time and effort into maintaining our mental health, as we do to maintaining our physical health.

Our mental health / wellbeing affects how well we are able to cope with stress. It impacts on how we relate to others and influences the choices which we make. It also impacts upon our relationships with our family, friends, community and colleagues.

Clearly therefore, we want the children in our school to look after their mental health, as children with good mental health are able to develop their coping skills, which boosts their resilience, self-esteem and self-confidence. Good mental health allows children to understand their emotions, helps them to feel calm, and allows them to engage in tasks with a positive attitude. These factors, will all, in turn, improve academic attainment too!

How Do We Support Mental Health and Wellbeing?

Schools are well-placed to promote the mental health and wellbeing of children, as most children and young people spend a significant amount of time within school and with their teachers. This means that in partnership with you, school staff are ideally placed to identify children who are struggling and who require some additional support.

Zones of Regulation

We have chosen to adapt the Zones of Regulation (a way of developing self-awareness around emotions and feelings, developed by the Occupational Therapist – Leah Kuypers) as a way of encouraging children to discuss their emotions and how they are feeling. The original Zones of Regulation uses 4 colour zones:

• blue (when you are feeling low levels of alertness – sadness, sick, tired or bored for example)
• green (when you are feeling calm and alert, happy and contented)
• yellow (when our emotional state is starting to elevate a bit – you might be feeling stressed, worried or excited)
• red (when we are experiencing intense and overwhelming feelings – you might be feeling angry, terrified or panicked).

The ultimate goal is to get back to green, if the child is in a different zone and there are strategies which the children can use to get back to green.

As we are working with children from the ages of 2 – 11 years old, we decided to adapt the original Zones of Regulation to use the characters from the Pixar film – Inside Out. Our ultimate goal is to get back to ‘joy’ if children are in a different zone. Again, children are taught simple strategies to support them to get back to ‘joy’ – this might be blowing bubbles, taking a movement break, doing a mindful activity or taking deep breaths.

Throughout our school, you will see the following posters:

Children will place their name / picture on the image which represents how they are feeling. This alerts staff to children who might need some additional support and this can be provided at an appropriate time. For some children, staff will do additional 1:1 check-ins.

Children are also encouraged to develop their language about feelings, through the use of the Sizes of Feelings posters. So for example, you might be upset, sad, heartbroken or devastated. This helps children to understand that their response needs to be proportional to what has happened.

Worry Monster

In our classrooms, we have Worry Monsters who eat children’s worries. Children are encouraged to write down their worries and feed them to the Worry Monster. Staff monitor worries which are placed into the Worry Monster and if needed, they can have a conversation with children around their worries.

Our PSHRE Curriculum Offer

Children at Moorside primary Academy are taught about the importance of good mental health and wellbeing via our PSHRE curriculum.

Year 1 & 2

• Know what it means to be healthy and why it is important
• Know ways to take care of themselves on a daily basis
• Know about physical activity and how it keeps people healthy
• Learn about different types of play, including balancing indoor, outdoor and screen-based play
• Learn about routines and habits for maintaining good physical and mental health
• Know why sleep and rest are important for growing and keeping healthy
• Know how to describe and share a range of feelings
• Know ways to feel good, calm down or change their mood e.g. playing outside, listening to music, spending time with others
• Learn how to manage big feelings including those associated with change, loss and bereavement
• Know when and how to ask for help, and how to help others, with their feelings

Year 3 & 4

• Learn about the choices that people make in daily life that could affect their health
• Learn about habits and that sometimes they can be maintained, changed or stopped
• Learn about the things that affect feelings both positively and negatively
• Identify strategies to identify and talk about their feelings
• Know about some of the different ways people express feelings e.g. words, actions, body language
• To recognise how feelings can change overtime and become more or less powerful
• To identify a wide range of factors that maintain a balanced, healthy lifestyle, physically and mentally

Year 5 & 6

• Understand how sleep contributes to a healthy lifestyle
• Know healthy sleep strategies and how to maintain them
• Learn about the benefits of being outdoors and in the sun for physical and mental health
• Know that mental health is just as important as physical health and that both need looking after
• To recognise that anyone can be affected by mental ill-health and that difficulties can be resolved with help and support
• Know how negative experiences such as being bullied or feeling lonely can affect mental wellbeing
• Know positive strategies for managing feelings
• Understand that there are situations when someone may experience mixed or conflicting feelings
• Know how feelings can often be helpful, whilst recognising that they sometimes need to be overcome
• To recognise that if someone experiences feelings that are not so good (most or all of the time) – help and support is available
• To identify where they and others can ask for help and support with mental wellbeing in and outside school
• Know the importance of asking for support from a trusted adult
• Know about the changes that may occur in life including death, and how these can cause conflicting feelings
• Know that changes can mean people experience feelings of loss or grief
• Learn about the process of grieving and how grief can be expressed
• Learn about strategies that can help someone cope with the feelings associated with change or loss
• To identify how to ask for help and support with loss, grief or other aspects of change
• Know how balancing time online with other activities helps to maintain their health and wellbeing
• Understand strategies to manage time spent online and foster positive habits e.g. switching phone off at night
• Know what to do and whom to tell if they are frightened or worried about something they have seen online

MELVA School

We are a proud MELVA school this year – one of 70 across the UK!

It has never been more important for us to find new ways to talk to and teach children about mental wellbeing from an early age. MELVA is a fun, high impact revolutionary way to do just that and we are using it in our school!

This award-winning creative, web-based programme focuses on early intervention through storytelling and creativity. Melva is for all children, not just those who are struggling. It teaches children the basic skills and understanding to keep well whatever challenges they might face in the future and supports the development of resilience pathways, positive emotional responses, and relationships.

You can find out more about MELVA via: www.melva.org.uk You can find out more about the creators of MELVA, children’s charity Mortal Fools via their website: www.mortalfools.org.uk

Senior Mental Health Lead

In 2021, the DfE dedicated funding towards training a member of staff in school to become a Senior Mental Health Lead to develop a whole-school approach towards mental health and wellbeing. Mrs A Charlton is currently undertaking this training, and is the Senior Mental Health Lead at Moorside Primary Academy.

If you have concerns about a child’s mental health and wellbeing, Miss K Hodgson can be contacted on the school telephone number: 01207 509725.

If you have immediate concerns around a child’s mental health and wellbeing, you should contact the CAMHS Crisis Team on (Freephone): 0800 0516 171. This line is available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

School Counsellor

We are very fortunate to have access to a school counsellor via our Trust and through our community of learning (COL). We do have a waiting list, but if you wish your child/ren to have some counselling sessions, please speak to your child’s class teacher and we can arrange for referral forms to be sent home. Children will generally have a six-week block of counselling – this will take place during school hours.

Supporting Mental Health and Wellbeing

Within school, these are just some of the things we do to promote and maintain good mental health:

External Support for Mental Health and Wellbeing

Understanding your Child – Online
This is an online course for all parents, grandparents and carers of children aged 0-19 years. It will help you to understand your child’s  development and feelings. Understanding feelings is vital as all behaviours start with feelings. It also considers different styles of parenting, and the importance of sleep and having fun together. It helps you reflect on how you and your child communicate with each other and how this can be key to moving forward when things are tough.For more information and to sign up for this go to www.durham.gov.uk/solihull

Being a Parent – Empowering Parents Empowering Communities (EPEC)
For parents of children aged 2-11 years old, delivered by parents. This group will help you understand your child’s behaviour and learn positive strategies to help you as a parent. These sessions are run byparent facilitators.

• Take time out for yourself
• Meet other parents
• Get practical support for day-to-day challenges of being a parent

Sessions run weekly for 9 weeks and last 2 hours each. For more information visit www.durham.gov.uk/EPEC

Incredible Years
For parents/carers of children aged 3-10 years. Incredible years will give you knowledge and skills to understand your child’s behaviour. You will learn how to build positive relationships with
your child and how to help them manage their behaviour in a positive way. Sessions include:

• How to play with your child
• Supporting your child’s self esteem
• How to praise and reward your child
• Understanding your child’s needs as they grow and learn

This course runs for two hours a week, over 10 weeks. For more information or to book a place, contact your local Family Hub.

Triple P FEARless
For parents/carers of children aged 6-14 years. This group helps where you have a child who has anxiety which might be causing them to miss school or social events. It helps you to understand
your child’s anxiety, recognise when your child is anxious and develop skills and techniques to help your child cope with their anxiety. Sessions run for 2 hours a week over 6 weeks. For more information or to book a place, contact your local Family Hub.

Understanding your child’s feelings – Online
This is a short taster course that will help you to understand more about your child and what they are feeling. If you like this you might like the bigger ‘Understanding your child’ or ‘Understanding your child with additional needs’ courses too. For more information and to sign up for this go to www.durham.gov.uk/solihull

Understanding the impact of the pandemic on your child / Understanding the impact of the pandemic on your teenager – Online
These short courses are about understanding how the coronavirus pandemic may have affected your child/teenager emotionally. You may have noticed that your child/teenager’s interests have changed since returning to school, or that your child/teenager is more anxious, or you might be worried about their social life. This course may help you to process the impact of the pandemic on your child/teenager. For more information and to sign up for this go to www.durham.gov.uk/solihul

Chill Kids
For children aged 7-11 years old. This course will help your child with big feelings find ways to manage their emotions and remain calmer. Sessions are delivered in a group. The course will cover:

• Helping children to identify different feelings and emotions
• Understand how their body feels when they experience emotions
• Strategies to remain calmer when they have big feelings

Sessions last one hour and run weekly for 6 weeks. For more information or to book a place, contact your local Family Hub