Mental Health and Wellbeing
Mental health is a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community. (World Health Organization)
At St Michael’s our Christian vision shapes all that we do. We are very much a ‘team’ at St Michael’s; staff, pupils, parents and governors work closely together to ensure that every pupil has the opportunity to grow in body, mind and spirit; to flourish as a child of God and experience the joy and hope of ‘life in all its fullness’.
In addition, we aim to promote positive mental health for all pupils and members of staff. We pursue this aim using both universal, whole school approaches and specialised, targeted approaches aimed at vulnerable pupils. Our Mental Health and Wellbeing policy outlines the steps we are taking as a school to achieve this aim.
How do we support our pupils’ Mental Health and Wellbeing?
St Michael’s Early Help Offer
At St Michael’s we all play an active role in supporting the wellbeing of our pupils. We do this using the tiered approach outlined in our Early Help Offer below. Tutors see the children daily and are often the first port of call for pupils who have a problem. Tutors will share any concerns with pupil managers who might then have direct conversations with the pupils to assess their needs and allocate further support (Tier 1b) if needed.
Tier 1b strategies will be put in place for any pupils who need additional wellbeing support. This may be in the form of weekly meetings with a member of the pastoral team or period 1 group interventions . Alongside support from the pastoral team, we might also signpost pupils to online support.
For pupils who still need support after working with the pastoral team, parents and carers will be signposted to more specific provision from outside agencies (Tier 2a) or a referral may be made by school to appropriate services (Tier 2b). All of the Tier 2 services are external agencies and can only be accessed via a referral. Please take a look at the Support and Advice section of this webpage for further details and links.
Services at Tier 3 are a much higher level of support. These have limited availability and are services that are provided at a cost to the school. Support at this level is directed by the Pupil Manager and SENCO and usually only after support has been accessed from the lower tiers.
Tier 4 services are usually suggested once a pupil has engaged with support at lower tiers and it has been identified that more specialist support is needed.
If you have any concerns about your child, we would encourage you to contact school and speak to your child’s Tutor in the first instance.
