Emotional health and wellbeing

When a school promotes positive emotional health and wellbeing pupils can better understand and express their feelings. This builds their confidence and emotional resilience and therefore their capacity to learn.

SEAL in the primary school is at the heart of this, but not to the exclusion of all else. Consideration needs to be given to behaviour and rewards policies, support mechanisms for staff and pupils and opportunities to participate. We have experience of working with SEAL. We are also liaising closely with the Behaviour and Attendance Team.

ReSET

We are developing some resources for emotional health and wellbeing, go to ReSET: resilience and self-esteem toolkit.

We have recently worked in partnership with Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust to create a resource for secondary schools to help challenge mental health stigma and promote positive wellbeing. Visit our STOP Stigma website for more information.

Bullying

Anti-Bullying Cornwall, now known as ABC, does terrific work in schools, including policy development.

For lots of ideas and techniques to tackle bullying, see Bullying: don't suffer in silence.

See our SRE minisite for some materials to help counter homophobic bullying in schools.

A caring and respectful school ethos

Through Jenny Mosley's Quality Circle Time programme, children and teachers are empowered to create a caring and respectful school ethos. The Circle Time website provides lots of resources, free games and other materials. There are other approaches to Circle Time and lots of good resources to support it too. We particulary like the work of Murray White and the resources published by Lucky Duck Publishers.

Support during the grieving process

Throughout their lives everyone will experience loss such as a family breakdown or the death of a relative or friend. Accordingly, school communities need to support children who are facing loss in one of its many forms.  

The Child Bereavement Charity describes itself as the UK’s leading charity that supports families and educates professionals both when a child dies and when a child is bereaved. The Child Bereavement Charity's website hosts a comprehensive schools section with topics including introducing bereavement into the curriculum (containing some lesson plans), terminally-ill children at school and putting together a policy.

They also hold some training sessions for school staff on grief and bereavement in schools. You can find details of their next session on their website.

The TACADE resource Life changes: loss, change and bereavement for children aged 3-11 contains an insight into children's understanding and responses to change, together with guidance on the school's response, including classroom activities, ideas for assemblies and much, much more. We have a loan copy of this resource which we lend to schools in Cornwall, contact us if you'd like to use it.

Penhaligon's Friends is a Cornish charity that supports bereaved children, their parents and carers.

Partnership for Children is an independent charity that works to promote the mental health and emotional wellbeing of children and young people around the world.  There are some good resources listed on their site, such as Good Books for Tough Times and other resources for teachers and parents. 

It's not your fault!

This Action for Children website is for children, young people and their parents and provides practical information to help during a family break-up.

Personal safety

Protective Behaviours UK is a charity promoting a practical down to earth approach to personal safety for individuals, families and communities of all ages and backgrounds. The Protective Behaviours UK website gives resources, details of training and much more. You may also care to have a look at information about Protective Behaviours work in Cornwall.

Making it mainstream

Making it mainstream aims to provide a brief resource for secondary school staff who are interested in developing sustainable in-school support for pupils with mental health problems, particularly depression. It brings together information from the policy context, the research field and the practice-learning context.

Relax Kids cloud school resource library

Relax Kids have made a collection of resources available in the "cloud". The resources are suitable for children of all abilities including those who have ADHD, SEN, or are hyperactive, need help with anger management, stress management or anxiety. They can be incorporated into SEAL, PSHE or as a designated element in other classes. Enter the Relax Kids cloud school resource library.

Teenage Cancer Trust

For many young people, the first time they hear the word cancer is when someone in their family, often an older relative, is diagnosed. Inevitably, if they ever have to hear their own cancer diagnosis they assume the worst. Therefore it’s important that young people are provided with information so they can understand how cancer could affect them or those close to them. This is also especially important since recent Teenage Cancer Trust research has shown young people have to visit their GP four times or more before being referred to a specialist, meaning cancer symptoms are being missed and lives put at risk.

Teenage Cancer Trust aims to educate every young person in the UK about cancer, cancer prevention and healthy living, empowering them to take control of their own health. So the charity delivers free, interactive and positive cancer awareness sessions in schools, colleges, universities, clubs and associations across the UK and provides free web based and downloadable resources. Teenage Cancer Trust’s education programme is mapped to the national curriculum and 98% of teachers involved with it, believe cancer should be part of the national curriculum.

If you would like Teenage Cancer Trust to visit your school, college, university, club or association to deliver a free cancer awareness session email education@teenagecancertrust.org