Mental Health & Wellbeing

Good mental health is an important part of healthy child development. It helps children build positive social, emotional, behaviour, thinking and communication skills. It also lays the foundation for better mental health and wellbeing later in life. Here are some ways you can support your child’s mental health at home, as well as links to organisation that have great advice and activities.

In school our qualified Mental Health First Aider is: Alix Ascough (Headteacher).

Advice and Guidance

Sleep

The importance of sleep

Many of us will have found our sleep very disrupted by the lockdown and changes to our routine. This is likely to be true for your children as well.

Why is good sleep ESSENTIAL for children?

Sleep is vitally important for learning and memory. Children who don’t have enough sleep are more likely to have problems paying attention, forget things and fall behind with school work.
Poor sleep can result in anxiety, which can also be expressed in behaviour difficulties in children.
Sleep is essential for our immune system and fighting off illness.

How much sleep should my child be getting?

Nursery, Reception and some Year 1 children (3 – 5 years) need 10 – 13 hours of sleep
School-age children (6 – 13 years) need 9 – 11 hours sleep

Tips for helping your child get a good night’s sleep:

Routine: Establish and maintain a bedtime routine each evening that is short and predictable. Start the 15-30 minutes before the set bedtime. The routine should take place where the child sleeps and where it is calm and quiet. You could include things like reading a story, stretching, listening to relaxing music, goodnight wishes or prayers.
Turn off all screens (such as an iPad, television, phone) an hour before bedtime.
Keep your child’s bedtimes and get up times as consistent as possible. Over the weekend, try not to go to bed/ wake up more than an hour later than on 'school nights' wherever possible.
At night, your child’s sleeping area should be comfortable, quiet and dark. Your child might benefit from ear plugs and a soft eye mask to block our light and noise during the night.

Alex Haswell, the school’s Educational Psychologist, has put together a useful sleep guide for both adults and children - Sleep Guide.

Trailblazers - Meet Alice

All Souls is part of the NHS Trailblazers mental health programme. The Trailblazer’s team provide All Souls with the following:

Early intervention for individual parents on some mental health and emotional wellbeing issues such as anxiety, low mood or behaviour challenges related to their child.
Helps provide a “whole school approach” to mental health and wellbeing including:
Staff training
Workshops for parents
Workshops for children

Rosie is our Education Mental Health Practitioner. She is supporting All Souls as part of an extended Mental Health Support Team. You will have opportunities to meet and work with Rosie throughout the school year.

Please click here to read this month’s addition of the Trailblazer newsletter.

Calm Zone – Childline

Childline has produced a toolkbox of activities such as breathing exercises, coping videos, yoga, videos and games that can help children feel calm and regulated.

Childline: calm-zone

Young Minds

Young Minds are a mental health charity for children, young people and their parents, making sure all young people can get the mental health support they need.

Young Minds

Recommended Books for Children

Storybooks are a great starting point in helping children talk about their emotions, feelings and anxieties. Book choices don’t need to cover issues literally to be effective. Often, the best books are those that reflect our realities through metaphor, imagery and themes that resonate through our experiences. Below is a list of recommended books that deal with issues such as isolation, independence, resilience, relationships, anxiety, trust and loss.

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Halibut Jackson’s - deals with themes such as resilience, independence and isolation - suitable for EYFS.

The Bear Under the Stairs - deals with anxiety caused by the unknown.

The Heart and the Bottle - deals with loss and grief.

The Selfish Giant - looks at the themes of friendship.

Lost and Found - looks at the themes of friendship and lasting bonds.

Tadpole’s Promise - deals with themes of change and change in friendships.

The Legend of Sally - explores themes around trust and relationships.

The Arrival - focuses on feelings of loneliness and adapting to a new normal.

Please click here to access the ebook 'My Inside Weather' - this book is all about children’s inner emotions.

Bereavement

The guidance below is designed for children and young people to read through with an adult. At the end of this booklet there is an additional guidance for adults about how to tell a child when someone has died.

Please click here for guidance from the school’s Education Psychology Service on supporting children with bereavement.

Please click here for guidance on supporting children with Autism on bereavement.

Further guidance on bereavement is available on the Winston’s Wish website.

https://www.winstonswish.org/coronavirus/

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s mental health and wellbeing, please do speak to your child’s class teacher, the school’s SENCO, Miss McCarter or our Mental Health First Aider, Ms Ascough (Headteacher).