St Benedict’s Catholic Primary School Hindley

Wellbeing

At St Benedict's Catholic Primary School, we are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our children and staff.

We understand that life experiences can set challenges which can make us vulnerable at times, and additional help is sometimes needed.

We believe that positive mental health and emotional wellbeing is just as important physical health.

One of our key principles at St. Benedict's, is to support the wellbeing of both staff and pupils. We aim to ensure that all children are happy, healthy and able to cope with everything that life may throw at them. We promote and teach all pupils to be resilient, confident, have positive self-perceptions and appropriate coping mechanisms in a seamless and continuous method of delivery.

By adopting a whole school approach, we can ensure that wellbeing is central to everything that we do.

As adults, we ensure that we develop our understanding of emotions, self-control, positive relationships and keeping our mind and body healthy, in order to support our wellbeing and therefore we can have the best impact upon the pupils we support. We recognise, however, that the mental wellbeing of both staff and pupils can change from day to day and that there are times in everybody's life when a little extra help or support may be needed. Therefore, we have invested heavily in a supportive and nurturing system, the aim of which is to enable all individuals to flourish whilst on their St Benedict's Journey.

As a school we also seek advice and support from CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service), School Nurse, Speech and Language Therapists, Paediatricians, the Primary Inclusion Team, the Educational Psychology Service. This helps to ensure that each individual receives the most rounded care possible.

If families need to make contact with our pastoral care/ safeguarding team for support please feel free to call the school office and ask for a message to be passed on to Mrs Fisher or Mrs Taberner. Or feel free to email school and we will contact you as soon as possible -enquiries@saintbenedicts.wigan.sch.uk

For information, please also use this link to access the THRIVE Directory of Services, where you can find all available emotional health and wellbeing support available for young people. 

Mindfulness

Have you heard of something called ‘mindfulness’? It’s about noticing what is happening in your body, your brain and in all of your senses at this moment in time. Practising mindfulness allows you to take notice of your thoughts and feelings. This helps you to feel a sense of calm and manage difficult emotions such as stress, worry or anger. Why not have a go at some of the activities below?

• Why not make a glitter jar? The swirling patterns make you feel calm when you are stressed or anxious.
• The Gratitude Tree Guided Meditation. If you liked this meditation why not check out more meditations by New Horizons
• Mindfulness Meditation. Daily meditation helps you to manage and control your mental wellbeing.
• Cloud Watching. Why not try some mindful cloud watching? 
• Body Scan. Complete a mindful body scan, bringing you to harmony with your mind and body.

Other Mindfulness Exercises

• NHS UK – Jungle Jig with Nala and Simba
• NHS UK – Bellwether’s Book Bundle
• MiSP – Mindfulness is being alive and knowing it
• MiSP – Playing Attention
• MiSP – Beditation
• Cosmic Yoga – Yoga for Children
• Mindful Breathing Exercise

Mental Health and Wellbeing

The following organisations offer information and support on mental health and wellbeing:

• Place2Be
• MindEd
• Every Mind Matters
• Public Health England
• Child Bereavement UK and the Childhood Bereavement Network
• Youth Sport Trust and Sport England
• Young Minds
• Healios
• Barnardo’s See, Hear, Respond Support Hub

Young people can get free, confidential support at any time from government-backed voluntary and community sector organisations by:

• Texting SHOUT to 85258
• Calling Childline on 0800 1111
• Calling the Mix on 0808 808 4994

Wellbeing Links:

• Resources for Parents and Carers - Boingboing
• Every Mind Matters, great tips and advice for children's Emotional Health. Support your child's Mental Wellbeing with Every Mind Matters. Click here for NHS advice
• Young Minds, are a UK leading charity who fight for children and young people's mental health.
• Mind, is a mental health charity and they are there to make sure no one faces a mental health problem alone.
• Winston's Wish, provided emotional and practical bereavement support to children and young people.
• Grief encounter, support bereaved children and their families to help alleviate the pain caused by the loss of someone close. 
• Child Bereavement UK, help children and young people(up to 25), parents and families to rebuild their lives when a child grieves.
• Welcome to the World of Sleep - a guide to help those who struggle to sleep.