“Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” 
World Health Organisation. 2018 

At St Joseph's Primary School we aim to promote good mental health and wellbeing for our whole community- students, staff and parents. 

We aim to develop pre-emptive and proactive approach by a community in which all:

• Value mental health and understand that it is important to look after it
• Feel safe, valued and listened to
• Are respected and respect others
• Feel able to talk freely within class and to trusted adults without fear of judgement 

We want all members of our community to:

• Feel confident in themselves
• Be able to express a range of emotions appropriately
• Understand that all emotions are important and normal and shouldn't be shamed
• Be able to make and maintain positive relationship with others
• Cope with the challenges of everyday life
• Manage times of stress and deal with change using taught techniques
• Have the tools to thrive and achieve during their time in our school family and long after they leave our school community

We aim to achieve this through:

• Living out our school's mission statement "we live, love and learn by the example of Jesus"
• Our PSHE curriculum- Jigsaw- you can see what areas your child will be learning and when our curriculum on our curriculum overviews and termly Wellbeing Newsletter
• Daily mindful minutes
• Daily check in and bubble time
• Nurture and talking groups 
• Targeted interventions where necessary
• CHEXs mentoring and sessions throughout the year
• Regular assessments of children's mental health
• Awareness raising (wellbeing assemblies, tips for good mental health)
• Listening to our students and ensuring they know they have trusted adults to which they can share worries openly without judgment 
• Gaining insights via student Voice 
• Working in partnership with parents/carers where there are concerns about mental health
• Workshops/training for students, staff and parents
• Signposting sources of external help and advice
• Making referrals and working with external agencies, including the Broxbourne Mental Health Support Team, to provide additional support to those who need it
• Recognising the importance of staff mental health and wellbeing
• Modelling healthy attitudes and habits

We are not able or qualified to offer:

• Counselling (although we can refer for this)
• Testing and diagnosis of mental health conditions
• Specialist therapies for example CBT

Wellbeing Support and Advice.

Dear parents and carers,

Life can be hard at times and it is so important to take care of our mental wellbeing. If you find you and/or your child needing some extra support please come in and talk to myself or Mrs O'Connor. We are always here to help and listen. Please click the links below to find some extra websites and resources to help you and your children with your/their emotional wellbeing.

Mrs Carpineta.