Background:

Since Covid, mental health and wellbeing has been at the forefront of everything we do at Gillibrand.  We initially began our journey through a bespoke, personalised  'Rainbow Curriculum' that was implemented as a recovery program for pupils on return to school following the distribution of the lockdown periods. Since then, and through the new leadership team established April 2024, we have strived to increase staff understanding of mental health, trauma and special educational needs in order to ensure staff and pupil wellbeing is at the heart of our school.  

 

Training and Resources:


To begin with, Mr Thomas, our Deputy Headteacher, has completed the Senior Mental Health Lead course which was funded by the DfE.  Mrs Clark and Miss Horgan have completed trauma informed training through Lancashire Trauma Informed and Miss Horgan has also completed training from Nurturing UK.  We are currently on our an exciting journey to become a 'trauma-informed school' with all staff receiving training on:
•    attachment
•    trauma
•    emotion coaching

At Gillibrand, we employ a Family and Pupil Support Worker, Alice Warren, who works closely with our SLT to support pupil's and families with mental health and wellbeing.  Alice works positively with a wide range of local agencies to provide our pupils and families with support required weather that be from local food banks, information regarding housing and accommodation, parenting courses or mental health.

We also work closely with Vicky Dempsey, a play and psychotherapist trained in sensory integration, AutPlay therapy, and floor time therapy, who provides weekly in-school support. All staff have received training in emotional regulation, sensory regulation, and sensory processing. At Gillibrand, we understand the impact of special educational needs (SEN) on children’s daily lives, access to the wider community, and their mental health and wellbeing, and as such we are committed to providing tailored support to meet their individual needs.

In addition, our Year 6 children annually participate in Kooth sessions to help prepare them for high school transition. Kooth is a mental health support service for young people aged 10 and over (see below for further details).

Above all, we are incredibly passionate about our school vision and values and believe that by knowing our pupil's individual passions and interests as well as their dreams and aspirations, we are supporting their mental health and wellbeing.  We use our knowledge of our individual pupils to continuously enrich our curriculum and provide opportunities for the children in our school linked to their passions and interests and their dreams.  Empowering children to pursue their dreams through providing opportunities to nurture their passions and interests gives them increased confidence and self-belief and as such supports both their wellbeing and personal development.  Furthermore, we continuously ensure that we provide opportunities to explore new passions and interests in order to allow children to find any hidden talents.  Knowing your talent gives you the self-worth and confidence to succeed beyond primary school life giving you a sense of purpose and identify which can be celebrated and enjoyed.

Our Journey:

In Summer 2024, we began our journey to develop our school learning environment combining a variety of theories to ensure we have low sensory, purposeful displays that create a safe, relaxed, nurturing environment that create a home-from-home environment to support both sensory processing difficulties and trauma informed practices.

Learning environment 2024


We celebrated and shared our beautiful new learning environment by holding a 'Coffee, Cakes and Classrooms' event to raise money for MacMillian, a charity close to the hearts of our school, whilst showcasing our school to current parents and bringing our community together.


In November, we held our first 'Positive Noticing Day' in line with our school vision of developing confidence and self-belief. Something which we now aim to hold annually following its success and positive impact on our pupils and staff!


Positive noticing day

In December, we are due to launch Moodtracker across school.  Pupils will be encouraged to log their feelings twice a day so that key staff in school can address and support pupil's with emotional regulation.  The data will be used to identify who needs same day intervention through pastoral work with our family and pupil support worker or key named adults as well as identify names of pupils who would benefit for more longer term, weekly intervention programs whether that be nurture groups or emotional literacy interventions. For more information on Moodtracker, have a look at this video: What is Moodtracker? - YouTube

 

Staff Wellbeing and Mental Health:


At Gillibrand, we understand that in order to get the best out of our pupils, staff mental health and wellbeing also needs to be our priority.  Our staff team is vital to the success of our school as without them we simply wouldn’t exist.  All our staff, regardless of their role, are offered supervision through Listening tree (https://www.listeningtree.org.uk/).  We prioritise our staff workload, mental health and wellbeing and the positive work they do by celebrating the impact staff have and helping them understand how they can support their own wellbeing, As such we have signed up to the DFE Education Wellbeing Charter -  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter.

 

 

If you ever have concerns that your child needs support, please speak to us. If parents need support, we can also signpost to available services.

For more information visit on the approaches we adopt take a look here:
https://www.nurtureuk.org/what-is-nurture/
https://traumainformedlancashire.co.uk/
https://www.whentheadultschange.com/
https://www.positivenoticingday.com/
https://www.elizabethjarman.com/
https://www.kooth.com/
https://www.barnardos.org.uk/get-support/support-for-parents-and-carers/mental-health