Wellbeing

Mental Health and Emotional Well-being

At Burnside Academy we aim to promote positive mental health and well-being for our whole school community (children, staff, parents and carers) and recognise how important mental health and well-being is in our lives in just the same way as physical health. We delighted to have been awarded Bronze Level for the Mental Health Charter Mark.

With the change in the national agenda to promote good mental health in school, we ensure that emotional well-being is a focus for our work in school. Staff meetings and Governing Body Meetings have emotional wellbeing as a standard item on the agenda.

Meet Our Team:

Burnside Wellbeing and RSHE Lead: Mrs Downey

Staff Lead Members; Mrs Davison and Mrs Pattison

Link Governor: Julie Anne Mullan

We are delighted that Burnside Academy have been selected to be part of the NHS initiative ‘The Health Heads Team’ which is a Mental Health Support Team based in Sunderland schools. The team offer early intervention to help children, young people and their families who are struggling with mild to moderate anxiety and/or low mood.

The team comprises of Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHP), Primary Mental Health Workers (PMHW) and Primary Mental Health Specialists (PMHS) who provide a range of emotional, behavioural and psychological support services to children, young people, parents and professionals.

One of the roles is working directly with parents/carers to give support help them manage their child’s anxiety, worries and fears. If this is something you feel your child needs support with, please speak to Mrs Downey who will be able to discuss it further.

Now more than ever, it is vitally important that we look after our mental health and recognise the signs when we are not feeling mentally well. We are always here if you need advice or support. There are many ways to access support – here are some links that might be useful.

Wellbeing info.org

Washington Mind

Young Minds

Stay safe and keep well,

From all the staff at Burnside Academy

Five Ways to Well-Being

In school we follow the principles of the’ Five Ways to Well-being’ in order to support children day to day. This is regularly discussed with the children, with daily opportunities to practise strategies and techniques in order to support their overall well-being.

Five ways to wellbeingMind

Within school, we run a number of programmes to support our children with their emotional well-being – Friends Resilience, Kidsafe, Operation Encompass.

Friends Resilience is an intervention carried out with small groups of children in school.

KS1 -The Fun FRIENDS curriculum helps build the social and emotional skills of young children by using fun, play-based group activities. By learning resilience skills early in their development, children build confidence to facilitate a smooth transition into school life. Fun FRIENDS nurtures positive relationships with family and peers, encouraging children to thrive.

KS2– FRIENDS for Life is a social skills and resilience curriculum, that has been recognised by the World Health Organisation as an effective tool set to prevent anxiety for children. It is proven to reduce anxiety and provide participants with strategies to rise to life’s challenges, and bounce back from setbacks and adversity. FRIENDS for Life also improves social-emotional skills, the ability to focus, confidence, the capacity to relax, regulate emotions, and develop empathy

As a school, we are planning exciting activities for the children to take part in, whether they are at home learning or in school. We would really like to see what the children are doing so please upload to Showbie and share your photographs.