Flint High School Emotional Health and Wellbeing Policy

"Mental health and mental wellbeing are fundamental to the quality of life and productivity of individuals, families, communities and nations, enabling people to experience life as meaningful and to be creative and active citizens." World Health Organisation, 2005

Government Policy in Wales

Well-being is at the heart of the School Effectiveness Framework (SEF) and is a crucial core element of the work of schools. Emotional health and wellbeing promotes school success and improvement by:

contributing positively to priorities such as enhancing teaching and learning, raising standards, promoting social inclusion and improving behaviour and attendance involving students more fully in the operation of the school helping students and staff feel happier, more confident and more motivated helping to meet legal, ethical and curricular obligations

School Context

An OverviewFlint High School is proactive in its approach to Emotional Health and Wellbeing and welcomes opportunities to promote emotional health and wellbeing through both the formal and informal curriculum. Emotional Health and Wellbeing is embedded within the spectrum of activities available to learners. We use a variety of methods for ensuring sound emotional health and wellbeing in school. These complement and reflect the overall philosophy and ethos of the school.

Our approach includes: Clearly defined rewards and sanctions Setting appropriately differentiated and challenging tasks Providing forums for talking and listening Encouraging collaboration and cooperation Developing pro social skills Encouraging and developing resilience

Our policies and practices are founded in the development of a resilient, happy, healthy school where learning can flourish. We aim to develop the self-esteem, awareness and confidence of our learners so that they are able to play an active and positive part in school life and become valued and valuable members of the wider community. We aim to promote wellbeing by including students in the decisions that affect them, through student participation.

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Aims

Happier and more motivated learners who get more out of life Learners that are well developed psychologically, emotionally, creatively, intellectually

and spiritually and are: able to initiate, develop and sustain mutually satisfying personal relationships aware of others and empathise able to use and enjoy solitude able to socialise appropriately able to develop a sense of right and wrong able to develop resilience and be able to face challenges, resolve issues, recover from setbacks and learn from them

Teaching and Learning Learners who are more engaged in the learning process Learners who can concentrate and learn better Improved standards in all subjects, including literacy and numeracy. Improved attainment More effective teaching Parents and carers more involved in school life and learning

Behaviour and Attendance

Learners with high self-esteem and confidence Learners who have a say in what happens at school Fewer disaffected learners, disengaged from learning Improved behaviour and attendance Less bullying Lower rates of truancy

Staff Confidence and Development

Improved morale Lower absenteeism Better recruitment level Positive and effective relationships with students

The school places an emphasis on positive self-assessment, time for personal reflection, quality feedback and encouragement to participate in a range of in school and out of school activities that enable learners to extend their interests beyond the classroom. Learners have the opportunity to work in a variety of groupings to promote learning, for example, form groups, teaching groups, friendship groups and sets according to ability groups. The school enhances student motivation and learning through:

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Curriculum Organisation

Curriculum provision encompasses the spectrum of need within our learning community. It reflects our understanding that we may need to offer a different learning pathways to individuals to ensure equality of opportunity. These needs include specific policies for those with Additional Learning Needs (ALN) and More Able and Talented (MAT). In addition to those needs identified on transition, we then use CATS information (from year & CATS tests) to further inform and enhance intervention strategies where needed.

Plas Seren (the hub of Flint High Schools ALN provision) provides targeted literacy and numeracy support to meet specific needs, including those that have English as An Additional language. (EAL) At Key Stage 4 learners are able to take a more vocational route should this be more appropriate to their needs.We use differentiation and awareness of learning and teaching styles in enhance provision and ensure that there are varied curriculum approaches for different learner needs.

We recognise the importance of curriculum organisation through:

Enhancing school and classroom layout; facilities and resources Consistent support for vulnerable children and those with SEN from trained teams of

Pastoral, learning support, teaching assistants and other agencies where appropriate.

A range of challenging opportunities for more able and talented students An exciting and varied range of extra-curricular events and trips A balanced curriculum with opportunities for intellectual, physical and expressive

development Recognising a range of learning styles Encouraging independence in learning Using a range of teaching styles

The school enhances student self-esteem and personal development through:

Recognising the background of individual students and their physical, social and emotional needs

Establishing clear rules, routines and expectations about behaviour for learning and social cohesion.

Encouraging positive, caring and constructive relationships PSHE Information, advice and guidance on sex and relationships and drugs Careers advice Opportunities for student leadership through school council, school ambassadors,

library helpers, peer mediators and mentors and student receptionists. This includes involving learners in interviews for members of staff

School Council representation with elected membership for all year groups and timetabled meeting time for members of the school council

An emphasis on praise and reward Opportunities for reflection and spiritual development through art, literature and

the RE Curriculum. A House system to encourage collaboration and greater sense of belonging A Prefect system Consulting learners about change and policy development

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Pastoral organisation of staff

We believe that happy, healthy, well supported and valued staff with a clear, shared purpose are best able to provide an environment in which the emotional wellbeing of our learners can be optimised. Our line management structure promotes in house support and we follow county guidelines and policies for supporting staff including those for harassment, anti-bullying, race equality and staff absence. Flint High School has undertaken the Investors in People programme to inform best management practice.The school enhances staff motivation, learning and professional development through:

Curricular planning time within the school week Whole school training events, including Safeguarding Access to appropriate external training Involving all staff in decision making and proposed change e.g. frequency of

reporting to parents and so on. Consultation on training and support needs through regular review

Roles and Responsibility The promotion of Emotional Health and Social Well Being and raising the

achievement of all students is the responsibility of the whole school staff and governors.

The Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team will demonstrate through their personal leadership the importance of emotional health and wellbeing and ensure all staff are aware of it and understand their role and responsibility in relation to it.

The Governing body will support and monitor policies related to wellbeing and their impact.

Staff will be expected to know what their responsibilities are in ensuring the emotional health and wellbeing of all learners. They will be aware of the implications of it for their planning, teaching and learning strategies, management of activities, as well as behavioural issues.

Students will be made aware of how the Emotional and Social Well Being policy applies to them as part of the school aims, values and in the curriculum.

Parents/Carers – Parents and carers will be encouraged to participate fully in implementing it in partnership with the school.

Pastoral organisation

The pastoral care of each year group is over seen by a Learning Manager although the everyday responsibility for the care and wellbeing of the individual learner is the responsibility of their form tutor. In the first instance, these are the members of staff who recognise and respond to a learner’s emotional and/ or behavioural needs. They will also communicate with parents in a positive and realistic way to created and develop a sustainable partnership approach to learners’ emotional health and wellbeing. Learning Managers and Form Tutors meet weekly to discuss issues arising.

Whole school approaches to pastoral care, Child Protection, bullying, attendance and behaviour are contained within the appropriate policies.

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Multi Agency SupportWe actively promote support from a range of agencies including:

Inclusion Welfare Officer School Nurse Flintshire Counselling Services Barnardo’s Young Carers Behaviour Support services Careers Wales Youth Worker Educational Psychologist Police Liaison officer

Access to these support services is dependent on need and there is a clearly defined referral route for each one.

Internal structures include: Counselling Learning coach

Working with Parents

We see parental involvement as a vital part of emotional well-health. Regular opportunities exist to promote partnership with parents, including:

Parents evenings/days - a chance to discuss the progress of each learner Weekly homework opportunities Parental questionnaires and meetings, e.g., FLAG, to help us build on what we do

best and identify areas for improvement Involvement in individual education plans and reviews for children with special

educational needs/behaviour needs. Involvement in extracurricular activities Regular and open communication and involvement over student progress,

behaviour and pastoral issues Concerts/Music Events/Open days

Monitoring and Evaluation

Provision across the school is monitored by the Assistant Headteacher for Pastoral Care and there are regular pastoral team meetings ensure that the quality of care is monitored, evaluated and developed.

Policy prepared by : Ms T Grandy, July 2011

Next Review : July 2012

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