2019/20 Archive

Ewyas Harold Primary School "leading the way" in Pupil Mental Wellbeing

Ewyas Harold Primary School have decided to tackle mental wellbeing head on with a unique collaboration between themselves and Herefordshire Mind. Sadly the consequences of poor mental wellbeing of young people has never been more prevalent in the news and social media. Ewyas Harold Primary School feels that the time is now right to deal with these issues. From many studies, it is clearly evident that the earlier mental health issues are addressed in a child’s lifetime, the easier they are to deal with for that child and the more impact the correct support can have.

David Harding, Support & Development Manager at Herefordshire Mind says "I am delighted to be working with Ewyas Harold Primary School. We will be supporting the school community to give greater priority to children’s happiness and mental health, which also helps to enhance their wider academic learning, their relationships and their resilience."

This is an exciting time for the school and the positive outcomes of this collaboration for both its’ children and the school community are eagerly awaited.

Laura Wallace, Head of School at Ewyas Harold Primary, comments as follows:

"We believe the focus on children and young people’s wellbeing and mental health is long overdue. This is the reasoning behind running our first ever ‘Mental Wellbeing Week’ starting on the 22nd of October. We have been given the incredible opportunity of working with David Harding of Herefordshire Mind. This has enabled us to not only involve our pupils with wellbeing and mental health training and provision, but also our staff, parents and the wider community.

We strongly believe that a teaching profession that feels sufficiently trained to speak about mental health and approaches issues confidently, would have a huge impact and lead to an open and inclusive culture that would benefit pupils, teachers and parent, thus reducing the stigma about discussing mental health. A focus on promoting wellbeing, building resilience and good mental health will improve outcomes for children and young people, and the nation as a whole, now and in the future.

Evidence shows that across the UK, mental health issues in children are increasing, while child wellbeing is deteriorating. With such a huge amount of time spent in the classroom, schools provide an ideal environment for promoting good emotional wellbeing and identifying early behaviour changes and signs of mental distress. The social and emotional skills, knowledge and behaviours that young people learn in the classroom can help them to build resilience and set the pattern for how they will manage their mental health throughout their lives."

Activities

Children's Mental Health Week - February

The week beginning Monday February 3rd was National Children's Mental Health Week.

Set up by children’s mental health charity Place2Be, the week shines a spotlight on the importance of children and young people’s mental health. This year’s theme is Find your Brave.

Miss Wallace delivered a KS1 and KS2 assembly, focused on the NSPCC Pants programme, safeguarding and peer on peer abuse. The children listened carefully and are aware of what is appropriate and what is not.

Following this Reception decorated some lovely pants pictures and enjoyed singing the song with the Pantosaurus.

Class 2 have been looking at the bestselling book The Boy, the mole, the fox and the horse by Charlie Mackesy.

'His finest artwork has been gathered together in this beautifully produced volume, a book to treasure forever and a permanent reminder of the need for compassion and love in a world suffused with ignorance and hatred.'

'The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse are four friends who share a deep, unshakable bond. Through a series of brief but profound conversations, Mackesy teases universal truths and rich wisdom from the mouths of his characters, celebrating warmth and empathy in all its myriad forms. Exploring kindness through exquisite, sensitive artwork and delicate calligraphy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is a moving study in friendship and the perfect gift for those people that you hold closest to your heart.'

Based on this book, class 2 decided to write their own quotes, with illustrations, that they might use to cheer someone up. They are all displayed throughout the school. Here are some examples.

We have also written some of the quotes from the book on our school windows.

Class 4 discussed the book 'What colour are you today?' They talked about how they feel different colours on different days and created posters that shared how they were feeling at the time. They also thought about the different aspects of their personalities that make them special.

Class 6 looked at a piece of text relating to crying tears and stress and how the brain deals with strong emotions. Apparently the brain can't distinguish which is why we cry when we are happy and sad.

Kidscape 'ZAP' Workshop

The Year 5 and 6 children were joined by a Kidscape facilitator on Thursday 9^th January for a series of workshops on Bullying Awareness, Assertiveness and Resilience.

The focus of ZAP is to provide an understanding of the difference between teasing and bullying as well as the role of the bystander. Additionally, it is to provide children with the understanding of how to use ZAP tools in a potential bullying situation.

The children participated in empowering and practical workshops that increased their levels of confidence and provided techniques for dealing with excessive teasing and bullying, while developing a positive sense of self. The children enjoyed a mixture of activities, role plays and discussions.

I would feel much more confident in helping someone I saw being bullied. Beau

It has helped me prepare for moving to High School and dealing with anti-social behaviour. Sam

Pontrilas Café

The children in class R enjoyed their trip to Pontrilas Community Café on Thursday 5th December. They enjoyed arts and craft activities and milk shakes and cookies.

The café is run by CARE Herefordshire CIC, their aim is to combat loneliness and social isolation in rural communities by encouraging young generations to engage with older residents, their neighbours and relatives, helping them and witnessing the benefits of the volunteering has on their own community.

Crohn's and Colitis Awareness

Crohn’s and Colitis are invisible illnesses, where a person may look ok on the outside; they may be in daily struggle with symptoms such as pain, extreme fatigue and urgency to use the toilet.

Right now, over 300,000 people in the UK are living with a lifelong disease that many people have never heard of. And the real number could be almost double that. Because of the stigma and misunderstanding surrounding these diseases, thousands of people are suffering in silence. But they are not alone.

Today (Friday 6th December) we held a school non-uniform day in aid of Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness week, as one of our pupils deals with colitis every day. So, we wore something purple and donated a £1 in support of this worthy cause.

Anti-bullying week - Odd socks day

The theme for this year's anti-bullying week is 'Change Starts With Us.' The message is that a small change makes a big difference. Whether it is verbal, physical, online or in-person, bullying has a significant impact on a child's life well into adulthood. By making small, simple changes, we can break this cycle and create a safe environment for everyone. Because together, we can challenge bullying. Change starts with a conversation. It starts with checking in. It starts with working together.

Change starts here, change starts now, change starts with us.

This year the goal is to inform schools and settings, children and young people, parents and carers to know that it takes a collective responsibility to stop bullying. We are excited for this campaign as we want to create empowering, positive messages addressing the fact that when it comes to bullying CHANGE STARTS WITH US!

Tuesday 12th November was wear odd socks day as part of a national anti-bullying week. The whole school part took part in wearing odd socks to school. It was an opportunity to encourage people to express themselves and celebrate their individuality and what makes us all unique!

Well-being week

This week (21st to 25^th October) has been our Well-being week. Well-being is again part of this academic year’s School Development Plan and has become a whole school focus due to the great importance of children having a healthy mind. We believe mental health and the way we feel are as important as physical health. So as a result we decided to organise a whole week of activities centred around the idea of well-being. Each teacher undertook different activities with each class including friendship, anxiety, e-safety, bullying, yoga, forest schools, PE, various crafts, healthy eating, road safety, an eco school project and some fantastic artwork with Caroline Slough, based on the book Lost Words. Parents, volunteers and outside agencies were also involved with activities. A huge thank you to everyone involved in the planning, preparation and delivery of this week.. It was a great week and we will be running more well-being projects throughout the year. There is a display outside class 2, please come and have a look.

NSPCC - Speak Out Stay Safe

Speak out Stay safe is a session available to all primary schools in the UK. It aims to equip a generation of children with the knowledge and understanding they need to stay safe from abuse and neglect. Children are taught to speak out if they are worried, either to a trusted adult or Childline.

On Thursday 10th October trained NSPCC volunteers and staff delivered an assembly and workshop with the help of our Speak out Stay safe mascot, Buddy the speech bubble. Pupils were taught in a lively, memorable and child-friendly way.

They believe it's important that the Speak out Stay safe programme is available to every primary school at no cost to the school. As a charity they can only do this thanks to the many generous supporters and amazing volunteers. They can build in a number of exciting curriculum-based fundraising activities into the programme.

#HelloYellow

On Thursday 10th October we took part in World Mental Health Day, along with thousands of other schools, offices, companies and community groups. We wore yellow to raise vital funds for YoungMinds. The idea being whether you wear a subtle splash of colour or dress like sunshine from head-to-toe, together we can show young people they’re not alone with their mental health.