Mental Wellbeing
At St. James, we are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our children, staff and parents. We know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support. We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play. At St James, we encourage and promote a mentally healthy environment by:
- Promoting our core value of LOVE and encouraging a sense of belonging
- Providing opportunities to develop a sense of worth through taking responsibility for themselves and others
- Access to appropriate support that meets their needs
- Celebrating academic and non-academic achievements in order to promote self-esteem
- Promoting pupil voice and opportunities to participate in decision-making
- Helping children to understand their emotions and feelings better and to feel comfortable sharing any worries or concerns
- Helping children to develop emotional resilience and to manage set backs.
We use a programme called My Happy Mind to help create a positive mental wellbeing culture in which children build resilience, self-esteem and character. My Happy Mind uses the latest research, science and technology to help children understand how their brain works and to support them in developing positive skills and habits to be their very best selves.
Sessions are taught across the whole school in weekly sessions and consists of 5 units:
MEET YOUR BRAIN – Learning about how our brain works
CELEBRATE – Understanding our character strengths
APPRECIATE – Developing gratitude as a habit
RELATE – Building positive relationships
ENGAGE – Engaging with the world.
Children are introduced to HAP
H - Hippocampus is like a scrapbook that stores our memories
A - Amygdala keeps us safe from danger and tells us when to fight, flight or freeze
P - Pre frontal cortex helps us to make choices.
When you are feeling happy and calm, Team H-A-P work well together.