Mental Health and Well-being
Ashfield Primary School Mental Health Intent Statement
At Ashfield Primary School we are committed to positively promoting good mental health and well-being to our pupils, staff, parents and governors. We understand that Mental Health is a state of mind and is our ability to respond to challenges. We know that Mental Health can change and that it is affected by risk factors and supported by protective factors. Some of our pupils and staff have more protective factors than others and this affects their mental health. At Ashfield, we will work together to support children and staff to improve their mental health by developing their protective factors and supporting them to be able to overcome and mange their risk factors.
We want to ensure that the pupils, parents and staff at Ashfield Primary School:
- Know how and when to ask for help
- Value their own and others mental health
- Understand the effect mental health can have on physical health
- Will listen and be supportive
- Value their uniqueness and be proud of who they are!
Mental Health and Wellbeing Support
There are lots of useful resources for parents and children on the Mindmate webpage, as well as on the links below.
SEMH Services Guide for Families
Health Week
Ashfield was buzzing with activity and excitement during health week. The week started with KS2 table tennis tournaments, football tournaments for KS1 and fun with Kinball.
We learnt how to stay safe around water with a water safety assembly from the Canal and River Trust. Sports Day was a chance for Ashfield children to show off their skills to parents and carers.
On Thursday, classes paired up for some well being activities including yoga, den building and mindfullness activities.
We had an inspirational visit from GB guard and international pro Basketball player Danny Evans. He talked about following your dreams, never giving up and mentally preparing for games by ‘getting in the zone.’
Friday brought scootering and skateboarding with children mastering some fancy tricks. The children loved the street dance workshops provided by Louise at Footloose Dance. Louise led a flash mob dance on the playground that even had the teachers and kitchen staff joining in. It was brilliant!
A big thank you to all our providers who helped make this a great Health Week.
- Active Schools
- ACES
- Geoff -volunteer at Canal and River Trust
- Rupert's Scootering and Skateboarding
- Louise at Footloose Dance
- Danny Evans
Have a look at fantastic photographs below.
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Children's Mental Health Week
What a week we have had! We have explored Mental Health and Wellbeing through the theme of 'Let's Connect.' We worked with children from other classes, experienced mindful minutes after each lunchtime, discussed the importance of being mentally healthy, learned strategies (physical and mental) to support our mental health and wellbeing and took time out to relax, breathe and be calm. Check out below to see what each class has been up to.
Early Years
Acorns and Maple classes read The Colour Monster book and discussed emotions and talking about how we feel. We also enjoyed meditation sessions and marshmallows and biscuits around a campfire, enjoying the company of our friends and the relaxing dance of an open fire in the firepit.
We tidied up the planters in preperation for planting spring flowers and went on a nature walk, using items we collected to make natural art. We took part in a Teddy PE session and snuggly stories with our toys.
Mr Ross
Year One
This week every day after lunch SilverBirch came into the class and enjoyed mindfulness activities. We have done some guided meditation and breathing exercises. We have added in an extra art session this week and children have taken their time to explore colour, shades and create their own version of Kandinsky's concentric circles.
On Thursday we enjoyed some mindful colouring and thought about the meaning of some positive words.
Y1 also enjoyed joining with Y4 in a guided yoga session.
Miss Loynes
Year Two
Willow talked this week about how to maintain good wellbeing. We have practised the Five to Thrive principles: Connect with Others, Be Kind and Give, Notice the World Around You, Be Curious (learn new things) and Be Active.
Willow Class enjoy joining in with the BBC Super Mood Movers daily and we have also enjoyed a moment of calm mindfulness after dinner.
We teamed up with Elm Class on Tuesday for a winter tree wildlife walk and to play parachute games and games that encourage resilience.
On Thursday, our parents and carers joined us in the morning for the jigsaw pieces activity on the Place2Be website. The host, Ricky Martin the art ninja from CBBC, talked about ways in which we can connect with other people. Our pieces are now ready to be 'connected' together to make a class jigsaw display.
Ms Morison
Year Three
On Tuesday, Beech class enjoyed a day of activities for Children’s Mental Health Week.We started the day with a class discussion about what we thought mental health was and how we can look after our own mental health. We then teamed up with Year 6 to learn a tricky dance routine called the ‘Jarusalema Challenge’. The adults had a lot of fun doing this too! Later in the morning we used a Place2Be art activity to learn about ourselves and the connections we have with other people, places and things. We created paper chains and each chain was decorated with pictures and words to show and describe our connections. In the afternoon we did some PE in the hall involving lots of stretching and balancing and then we completed day 2 of our 30 day mindfulness challenge. The challenge was bubble breathing and it made us feel nice and relaxed. We finished off the day with a BBC live lesson about keeping safe on the internet and we linked it to the work we had already done on mental health and wellbeing. What a busy day!
Mrs Archer
Year Four
Rowan class thoroughly enjoyed Children's Mental Health week! We completed our mindfulness sessions each day after lunch and it really helped us to feel calm and ready for the afternoon - we can't wait to continue with this. We have completed lots of activities over the week including, Yoga in the hall with Y1, getting outside and working together as a team to create a calm garden, creating our own worry dolls and taking part in activities that help to calm our mind if we are feeling worried. We also completed some calming massage and breathing exercises.
Mrs Davison
year 5
Elm class have enjoyed their Mental Health Day where we have explored different feeling, emotions and strategies to help us when we feel like we need some help. We have shared some of our own personal experiences bravely and celebrated some happy memories. In the afternoon, we teamed up with Year 2 for an outdoor adventurous activity afternoon. We enjoyed being a good role model for our year 2 buddy and participated in: cross the river, a nature scavenger hunt, parachute games and a blindfold mission. We feel more informed about how we can keep a healthy mind!
Miss Bowers
Year Six
Oak class really enjoyed Children's Mental Health Week. After lunch everyday, it was nice having daily mindfulness time and relaxing after running around in the playground - it helped to get our minds refocused. We are looking forward to continuing this. Tuesday was a great day; coming to school in our comfortable clothes and connecting with Beech class to learn the Jerusalema challenge dance - we had great fun dancing in the hall!
We read the book 'What to do when you worry too much' and did some activities around what hurts when we worry, We created posters about strategies to overcome our worries. We also enjoyed continuing with our Art topic which is weaving. This was a lovely way to de-stress and lose ourselves in what we were doing. Mrs Chaplin
Please see linked pages on our website: SEND and social and emotional mental health.