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Positive Wellbeing

At Plumcroft, we place a huge emphasis on the well-being of our pupils, staff and our families. We do a range of things within the school day to support our pupils, staff and families.

Firstly, we have a, ‘Children’s Mental health working party,’ comprising of staff members who work in a range of roles in the school as well as supportive parents who have careers in well-being. We meet half termly and look at actions to improve the mental health of our pupils. We then consider a range of things such as CPD and systems we can put in place to improve the well-being of all our stakeholders. An example of CPD we have offered staff is from a CAMHS specialist.

We place a huge emphasis on our PSHCE programme, Jigsaw, by conducting drop-ins, supporting teachers with the planning and preparation of these lessons and generally capturing pupil voice around this. There is more about Jigsaw on our curriculum page but it is a mindful approach to PSHE so places a lot of emphasis on pupil’s mental health.

We have fully embedded The Zones of Emotional Regulation within our school day now. This means that every class has a Zones of Emotional Regulation display and a toolkit to encourage pupils to become more emotionally literate. In addition to this, SLT use some of these tools to support when pupils are struggling with their emotional regulation throughout the school day.

We continuously celebrate the pupils and their achievements in a range of ways. For example, at VR, we have Afternoon Tea with the Head of School and every half term, this is an opportunity for the Head to capture some pupil voice about what could be better and how they are feeling.

We have many social groups running for pupils which range from confidence building all the way to nurture groups to support specific groups of friends. These are run by our SALT team. Our school counsellor continues to work with our most vulnerable children across both sites.

We always think of ways to appreciate our staff such as by having a, ‘Staff shout-outs display,’ and by asking our team of Key Stage Two well-being ambassadors to give the staff a thank you card and a small gift. We have well-being staff meetings every term.

For new initiatives in the school, we have created drop-ins so that staff can talk to SLT about anything worrying them or any element of the new initiatives they find tricky. We have modelled sessions for staff around the new reading framework, for example to support them in implementing this in their classrooms.

We have also got, ‘Creating Ground,’ leading parent/carer workshops at our Vincent road campus. These are centred around well-being. For example, last week they went on a Mindful Woodland Walk and they have also had a speaker from MIND. We work closely with Citizens UK who support our parents/carers with Community Organising and with issues such as housing etc.

Well-Being Ambassadors

We have Key Stage Two Well-Being Ambassadors at both sites. The children have made a charter and meet half termly with SLT to look at actions which can support the well-being of pupils and staff across the school. So far they have achieved a lot including:

-Creating the below charter for the ambassadors to follow

-Jazzing up the school environment with Well-Being canvases and posters

-Fundraising for our Sensory Garden and helping to create, ‘Clucky corner,’ which has six chickens. The children help with the care of the chickens and also collect their eggs!

-Holding a cozy reading club each break time in our new outdoor space

– Supporting staff-well being with displays and a card and small gift

– Creating and publishing our school newspaper: Happy News! And the Calm down Comic!

The pupils are constantly creating their own unique and creative actions detailing what they wish to implement in the school. These are actions to improve the well-being of both pupils and staff.