Social, Emotional & Mental Health (SEMH)
At Hebden Royd CE Primary School we provide a nurturing environment that supports the ‘whole’ child enabling them to thrive whatever difficulties they may face and we recognise how important mental health and emotional wellbeing is to our lives in just the same way as physical health.
We recognise that children’s mental health is a crucial factor in their overall wellbeing and can affect their learning and achievement. All children go through ups and downs during their school career and some face significant life events.
The Department for Education (DfE) recognises that: “in order to help their children succeed; schools have a role to play in supporting them to be resilient and mentally healthy”.
Our role in school is to ensure that children are able to manage times of change and stress, and that they are supported to reach their potential or access help when they need it.
We also have a role to ensure that children learn about what they can do to maintain positive mental health, what affects their mental health, how they can help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues, and where they can go if they need help and support. Our aim is to help develop the protective factors which build resilience to mental health problems and to be a school where:
All children are valued
Children have a sense of belonging and feel safe
Children feel able to talk openly with trusted adults about their problems without feeling any stigma
Positive mental health is promoted and valued
Bullying is not tolerated
Emotion Coaching (a whole school approach)
What is Emotion Coaching?
Emotion coaching supports the relationship between children and key adults, we use this as an ‘in the moment’ technique to manage and guide a child whose behavioral response may be unproductive for their own and others wellbeing. Emotion coaching helps children and young people to understand the different emotions they experience, why they occur and how to handle them.
Through repetitive, consistent use, this helps children to regulate their emotions and promote resilience.
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE IN PRACTICE? | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1: Awareness | Be aware of emotions and tune in to the child’s emotions and your own | Regulate | “I can see you are struggling with your feelings, I want to help you with this.” |
| Step 2: Listening | Listen to the Pupil | Relate | “I want to listen to you. Can you tell me what has happened?” |
| Step 3: Labelling | Name Emotions | Relate | “I am thinking that you might be feeling…” |
| Step 4: Setting Limits | Set the Limits | Reason | “I understand why you are feeling like this. However, this behavior is not helpful” |
| Step 5: Problem Solving | Explore and find solutions to problems together | Reason | “Let’s decide what to do next and what to do next time you feel like this.” |
what happens if further help is needed?
For children who are experiencing persistent challenges with their emotional and mental wellbeing we have a designated member of staff available to provide regular check-ins and a variety of interventions as needed.
Finally, in consultation with parents/carers we can seek help/support from the appropriate outside agencies.
LINKS TO ORGANISATIONS TO SUPPORT CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
“Thanks so much for doing the forum today, it was super useful and made me think about how I deal with situations! Also, and most importantly, it gave me an insight into how much you care as a school, which was really lovely to see.”