Wellbeing
Hello and welcome to our well-being page!
At Kingsley the well-being and personal development of our children is threaded through everything that we do. Positive relationships are our foundation and our number one rule is BE KIND.
In addition, we support pupil well-being through:
- Access to an exciting and engaging curriculum with a wide, rich set of experiences
- Recognising and celebrating achievements through daily rewards and feedback
- Celebration assemblies
- In school, bespoke well-being support in the 'Arc'
- Access to play therapy
- Access to a trained counsellor to support children
- Child yoga sessions delivered by a trained instructor
- Mindfulness
- Visitors to school, trips and opportunities to nurture, develop and stretch pupils' talents and interests
- Respecting and celebrating diversity
- RSE
- Actively promoting equality
- Black History Week
- Wellbeing Week
- Mental Health Week
- Outdoor learning and play
- Calm spaces around school
- Access to prayer room
- Subsidised breakfast club
- Healthy free school meals
- A range of popular free after-school clubs
- Sporting clubs and competitions
- Support for families – family learning, curriculum sessions, bespoke support, bilingual support, close links with Granby and Dingle Children's Centre, school health/social services
We are very lucky to have a team of amazing learning mentors who support children across the school in class, in small groups and one to one support. Our mentors are also trained as THRIVE practitioners to support even more children in our THRIVE space.
Our whole-school approach to well-being is the ROAR response to mental health which is a program that aims to help teachers and staff recognise and address the signs of mental health problems in children. Through ROAR, our children learn to develop confidence, resilience, independence and strength of character. We recognise that we all have mental health and we know that talking about our feelings can be hard,. The more we talk, the better we understand each other and ourselves. Children learn emotional literacy and self-regulation. Together we learn how to support each other.
We use the ROAR Rainbow to say how we are feeling from 1 – 10. 1 means we are feeling very sad or worried, and 10 means we are feeling great. We may feel somewhere in between and may move up and down the Rainbow during the day.
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD'S WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH?
Ask your child/children to rate themselves and how they feel along the rainbow. It is okay to not feel okay. We all have good days and bad days. This will give you a good idea of how ready and able they are to engage with whatever you are doing at that point in the day.
This could be used over a week to identify key times of the day when your child’s mental health is low.
How could you change your routine and structure of the day to change this?
Could you put in an exercise or relaxation session?
Is it time to connect with friends and family?
Is it time to go outside and enjoy some fresh air and connect with nature?
Maybe take some time listen to music or enjoy a story together.
THE RESILIENCE FRAMEWORK
According to research one of the key factors that determine your ability to deal with adversity, is how you bounce back from things when they are tough (resilience).
Resilience is important because it:
- Helps you to try new things.
- Encourages you to take on challenges.
- Keeps you going when things get tough.
- Keeps your dreams alive.
- Helps you to deal with failure and frustration.
- Give you the strength to get up and try again.
- Give you a ‘WHY’ to keep going for.
You can use the Resilience Framework (https://resilienceframework.co.uk/) to set targets and track your progress towards resilience.
We use Resilient Ralph in school as a talking point for resilience
- Green hat – keep calm and relax hat.
- T-shirt to remind people to be resilient.
- Rubberband – Do you bent or break? We all have a breaking point.
- Springs to bounce back.
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF OUR WELL-BEING DISPLAYS AND CALM AREAS AROUND SCHOOL
THE ARC
In Kingsley we have a dedicated space and key adults who support our pupils with social and emotional needs. In 'the Arc' we work on aspects of well-being and resilience:
- Children's basic needs are met in a safe and nurturing environment e.g. children experience spending time in fresh air and nature in our forest area; sharing and communicating through cooking.
- Lots of our work involves talking and communicating to promote good relationships and a sense of belonging. Children learn who they are and where they come from.
- Circle times address issues as they arise and through learning coping mechanisms and problem solving, children are better able to calm down and self-regulate.
- Children become more confident and develop self-esteem.
THE ARC
Occasionally we have some very special visitors!