Why is it important to promote children’s mental health and wellbeing?

Promoting children and young people’s wellbeing is a key part of keeping them safe, helping them develop and ensuring they have positive outcomes into adulthood (Public Health England, 2015).

Mental health plays a key role in a child’s overall wellbeing and can be affected by various factors, including:

• environment
• stress
• family circumstances
• abuse and neglect

At Piddle Valley CE First School, we know the importance of mental health and wellbeing in both staff and pupils. We also understand that we need to work with children on developing strategies for supporting positive mental wellbeing. For a child to learn well, they need to be supported in their wellbeing and be happy.

Finding our safe place...

Where are your favourite soothing places in nature? You can visit them anytime in your mind. You could write a journey to your calm safe place, describing with all your senses how it feels to be there.

Belly Breathing - soothing...

Lie down somewhere comfy and imagine there is a balloon in your tummy. As you breathe in, imagine the balloon slowly inflates. As you breathe out, the balloon effortlessly deflates. Children can rest their favourite toy on their tummy and let them go along for a calming ride.

The Warrior pose - to develop confidence and concentration...

Stand up tall with your feet wide apart. Turn your right toes out and press your left heel away. Bend your right knee deeply, stretch your arms out at shoulder height and make like a surfer. Hang ten for a few relaxed breaths, feeling the strength of your body, then shake out your legs and try it out on the other side. This is a great distractor from worried thoughts.

Grow happy thoughts...

There is a garden in your mind, made by all your thoughts. Thoughts you enjoy plant the seeds for flowers you love. Worries or nasty thoughts plant the seeds for weeds. Now every garden has weeds so it’s not about eliminating unhappy thoughts, but you can choose where you direct the sun and water by nurturing the thoughts that help you feel good. It all comes down to where you place your attention so choose wisely to grow a beautiful mind garden.

Senior Mental Health Lead for the school is: Mrs Vicki Nelson