Wellbeing

Looking after our children's wellbeing is always at the forefront of what we want to achieve from our school vision in with helping the children leave us as RESILIENT members of the community- this includes resilience with their physical health and mental health.  In our school, we do this in a number of ways: through building relationships with children and their families, providing whole class, small group and individual support and doing all that we can to create an inspiring environment.  

Possible signs a child might be struggling:

'A large number of children and young people will experience behavioural or emotional problems at some stage. For some, these will resolve with time, while others will need professional support.

It might be difficult to know if there is something upsetting your child, but there are ways to spot when something's wrong. Look out for:

• significant changes in behaviour
• ongoing difficulty sleeping
• withdrawing from social situations
• not wanting to do things they usually like
• self-harm or neglecting themselves '                               

This is from the Children's Mental Health section of the NHS site- follow this link for more information.

During Lockdown

During any period of home-learning, we recognised that looking after wellbeing can be a challenge.  We had regular contact with all children and families throughout lockdown, through class meets, our online learning platforms or via phone calls. If anyone had any concerns they wished to discuss, we asked them to contact us. 

Useful Resources:

• Health professionals recognise the link between mental and physical wellbeing, so please enjoy a range of exercise together, be this walks with the dog, cycling, playing outside or enjoying online workouts, such as Joe Wicks or Cosmic Yoga (both can be found on Youtube).
• Mind Ed is a useful website, which offers support and guidance for parents covering a range of areas, from specific support, to general parenting advice.
• The PDF ('Children's Guide to Corona Virus') is a good explanation for upper Key Stage 2 children. Children's guide to Coronavirus
• We know that getting the balance between work and play can be difficult. The Children's Commissioner recommend trying the following activities to keep busy:  audiobooks (Amazon offer some free ones), starting a film club by encouraging friends to watch the same film and then discuss it (this could also be a book club using an ebook), improve your art skills using online demos, learn about other places with Google and even Mars with this tool learn a new language, make quizzes for your friends and family to enjoy virtually, write a story like an author, learn a new instrument, play some board games.
•     Try reading for free online-you just need a library subscription. This is free for children.
• This is the recommended information from Suffolk
•   Advice and guidance on Mental Health.
•  Support for depression, anxiety, mental health, self-harm, cyber and online bullying.
• My Hero is You story The story 'My Hero is You' is a story for children, which explains a bit more about lockdown and how everybody can be a hero to support the fight against covid-19. 

 

The School Nursing Team- link to their website

The Bawdsey School Nurse visits the school regularly to help children get the full benefit from their schooling by detecting health needs and maintaining and improving standards of health and hygiene. She carries out vision and hearing tests. She works with doctors, teachers, health visitors, social workers, educational welfare officers, physiotherapists and speech and occupational therapists.

Education Welfare

The School Education Welfare Officer  is based at County Hall. The School  will be able to help you with advice on free school meals, clothing allowances etc. If problems arise at home which can affect your child at school, it is helpful for the school to be aware, so that your child can be supported through any difficult times. All such information will be dealt with strictly confidentially.

Medicines

Generally these days there is no need for antibiotics or other medicines to be administered in school. Doctors inform us that most medicines can be arranged for administration outside the school day. EXCEPTIONS are made for asthmatics who are responsible for their own inhalers. The school keeps a register of asthma sufferers with details of triggers, symptoms and dosage. Parents are required to complete a form every September to enable this to be updated. In all cases, the school can accept no responsibility in the administration of medicine.

Pupil Behaviour

The school operates a behaviour policy, which includes dealing with any bullying issues, to which all staff, parents and pupils have ownership. The theme is to treat others as you would wish to be treated. The principles are firmly based upon respect for each other, respect for the environment and for belongings. Building of individual self-esteem is part of the ethos of the school and pupils regularly receive praise, stickers or certificates to reward good performance. Poor behaviour, including bullying, is not accepted at school. At times pupils are required to stay in at break to complete work or to take time to consider poor behaviour and its consequences. Class teachers and the headteacher consult with parents when a child presents poor behaviour as a co-operative approach by the home and school is in the best interests of the child.

Healthy Eating

Healthy eating is seen as an extremely important part of the healthy lifestyle we are trying to encourage the children to adopt. As part of our programme, the children have lessons in healthy choices; they are given fruit or vegetable every morning and are encouraged to drink water whenever they need it. See also our page on School Lunches and our healthy eating policy.

We are also teaching the children how to cook healthy meals and snacks. We use the produce grown at school in gardening club and local produce and then the children have weekly sessions for half a term to learn how to cook in our teaching kitchen.