Children’s Mental Health Week (5-11th February) gives us all a chance to reflect on how we support our young people to understand how to look after their wellbeing and be aware of their mental health needs. The theme this year is ‘My voice matters’.

As a school we dedicate a significant amount of time and resource to supporting our young people’s wellbeing and mental health, be that through ensuring the school environment is safe and welcoming, providing our young people with a range of opportunities to engage in activities which take them beyond the classroom and broaden their interests, or by ensuring we have skilled staff and provisions to support them when there is need – we have two full time counsellors, a team of Thrive and ELSA practitioners and a team of mentors and support staff who work every day with our young people to help them find positive strategies when faced with a problem and overcome some of the challenges they may be dealing with.

Access to additional provisions outside of school is often restricted or with lengthy waiting times, that’s why we put such emphasis on ensuring our students understand what their own needs are and work with them to find the best way forward.

We are looking forward to having the opportunity next week to again raise awareness of children’s mental health and wellbeing needs and the importance of being open to talk about this so that we can access the help we may need.

Families can access resources to support discussion at home: https:// www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/families

Have a good weekend.

Mrs Cross