Well-being

The children on the school field.

Within school we are having a focus upon well-being. This area has been identified by the Government as requiring a raised profile within schools. Recent studies have shown that childhood obesity and mental health issues have significantly increased, especially within the North East, which has the third highest prevalence of obesity in the country.

As a school we have decided to focus upon the following areas:

  • Physical Wellbeing – mainly looking at exercise and sleep
  • Health Wellbeing – healthy diet and the importance of water
  • Mental Wellbeing – managing relationships, feelings and dealing with problems

Throughout the year we plan events to raise the profile of Wellbeing throughout the school, on days such as World Mental Health Day, Children’s Mental Health Week and our annual Sport and Wellbeing Week in July. These events give the children a chance to learn about the importance of their own Wellbeing and also how to support others with their wellbeing. We also like to invite outside agencies in to support this work where possible to provide good quality education in this area. To support you in knowing what your child is learning in school regarding Wellbeing information will be set out regarding these events and the relevant themes on which they are based.

Children’s Mental Health Week – February 2022

Place2be’s Children’s Mental Health Week was on 7-13th February 2022. Children throughout the school celebrated the week by completing 2 afternoons of activities linked to the theme of this year. The theme was ‘Growing Together’. This involved looking at how we grow both emotionally and physically and how we develop strategies to help us manage our emotions. This reinforced our whole school approach of the 5 winning ways to wellbeing which we follow.

The children enjoyed the activities which ranged from how we grow and develop, who can be our support with emotions, skills we have built as we grow to help with emotions and also how to offer strategies to others about managing emotions. The children enjoyed the activities and now have a better understanding of how important it is to deal with our emotions.

Wellbeing Week – July 2022

We have had a great week looking at Wellbeing. Many different art and craft activities were organised to support the children in thinking about how to look after their mental wellbeing. We also had a visit from the Worry Wizard this week. Every class had a session, which included transition for Year 6, Worries to Wellbeing for Years 1-5, and Nursery and Reception looked at ‘The Magic in Me’. All of the children have gained a lot from the activities and know how to look after their wellbeing.

World Mental Health Day – October 2022

To recognize the importance of Mental Health all of the children were able to wear green or yellow to promote awareness of mental wellbeing. Everyone in school was also provided with a green mental health ribbon to wear on this special day. This year’s theme was ‘Amazing Me’. All of the children had an afternoon full of exciting activities looking at what makes them amazing in relation to our 5 Winning Ways to Wellbeing – Be Active, Keep Learning, Connect, Give and Keep Active.

The children working together over break time.

Useful websites

Winning Ways To Well-being

Within school we actively promote the ‘Winning Ways To Well-being’ throughout the school from Nursery to Year 6. This display is in every classroom to remind the children of the ways they can look after their own mental well-being and the well-being of others .

The children will also have the opportunity to nominate a friend in a weekly draw, if they have done something to support someone else’s well-being.

RAPS Mental Health Team

Here is a poster that we display around school that shows the RAPS Mental Health Team .

Our Well-being Governor

Mrs Forster is our Well-being Governor. Her role is to take the governor lead in understanding issues surrounding the well-being of staff and pupils at RAPS.

This role is another element in the provision that RAPS make towards providing the best outcomes for its pupils and the importance of ensuring staff well-being in this process.