Mental Health and Wellbeing

At Holly Grove, we aim to promote positive mental health for every staff member and pupil. We pursue this aim using both universal, whole-school approaches and specialised, targeted approaches aimed at vulnerable children. 

We will:

• Highlight sources of information and support about common mental health issues on our school website. 
• Ensure that all parents are aware of who to talk to and how to go about this if they have any concerns about their own child or a friend of their child. 
• Make our mental health policy easily accessible to parents. 
• Share ideas about how parents can support positive mental health in their children. 
• Keep parents informed about the mental health topics their children are learning about in PSHE and share ideas for extending and exploring this learning at home (where appropriate taking into consideration their level of learning difficulty.)

Please see below the list of everything we do as a school for children at Holly Grove School to support Mental Health and Well-being. 

• Curriculum - PSHE - tailored towards developing independence, friendships, growth, differences, emotions etc. 
• 10 golden Rules - Child-centered.
• Ethos - Together we LEarn, Together we Achieve. 
• Friendship week & Children's mental health week
• Celebrate diversity days for eg odd sock day
• Physical well-being e.g. PE lessons, MATP, outside gym, running track, sensory processing, rebound. 
• Nurture sessions - 1:1 sessions for children within their timetable. 
• Pupil voice across the school (in our school improvement plan)
• School council & Eco council
• Treat days e.g birthday parties, Halloween etc. 
• Rewards within the class & from Head Teacher / Deputy Head, certificates and prizes. 
• Working for and visual timetables to help with anxieties and behaviours.
• Barnados - talk with children
• Children's version of the safeguarding policy
• Online safety. 
• Mood monster board/feelings board
• PECS - all voices heard
• Keyworker system
• GLD classroom - no segregation & mixed ability
• Music therapy and play therapy
• Invested in Burnley Youth Theatre, Little Voices - help build confidence
• Broader curriculum e.g drama
• Circle time in class - opportunities to share/express how we feel. Playtime - build friendships and socialise
• Extended services - Holiday club, Merry Berries, Residential e.g Blackpool
• We promote to children it is ok to feel all different kinds of emotions. 
• Multi-Disciplinary Teams e.g Speech 7 Language, Physiotherapists, Social Workers...
• Newsletter & assembly - acknowledge achievements

Please see below the list of everything we do as a school for staff at Holly Grove School to support Mental Health & Well-being

• Well-being acknowledgements - free tea & coffee, early finish on the last Wednesday of every half term, golden ticket
• Facebook/Whatsapp groups for class teams
• Educational support - free helpline with trained counsellors
• Supervision - class teams with senior leaders, Deputy has referral 1:1 slips in the office. Staff feel supported and welcomed to always speak to the Headteacher and other members of SLT whenever they need to. 
• Teachers have 1:1 supervision with their own staff. 
• SLT - Offer 1 day a fortnight out of the office for them to have time to focus and catch up on work. 
• SLT look out for each other. 
• Listening tree - Class supervisions for more complex scenarios such as pupil death - bereavement session. 
• Paid for supervision for SLT
• Executive coaching. 
• Open door policy for all staff - signpost services where needed. 
• Treats in the staff room
• Staff roles and succession plans and progression routes. 
• Leave of absence for appointments/funerals/weddings.
• Flexible working approach e.g part-time
• Helpline numbers - back of toilet doors
• Friendship week for staff - an act of kindness between staff

Please see below a list of everything we do as a school for parents at Holly Grove School to support Mental Health & Well-being. 

• Family forum - have speakers / professionals available to talk with parents.
• Support network - parents together
• Nibble & Natter
• Shagufta works closely with identified parents who may need extra emtional support. 
• Welfare meetings - designed to prevent any escalation. 
• Signposting - specific issues.
• Parent workshops - led by teachers/professionals. 
• New parents get an in-depth induction - home visit, transition meeting, visit to school, continued support and welcome questions.
• Welcomes to charity events and other school events. 
• Different ways of communicating e.g text message, email, phone call - flexible to support parents. 
• Leading parent partnership award. 

Introduction to the Nurture work at Holly Grove

Nurture is a priority at Holly Grove for emotional regulation and the pupil's overall well-being. Nurture time is intended to develop and support children's emotional well-being, the feeling of safety, the feeling of love and belonging and the formation of meaningful relationships. 

The nurture team is built of a team of staff in the school with a wide range of backgrounds and skills. We work closely with pupils to help build confidence and a trusting and secure relationship. Our school motto 'Together we Learn, Together we Achieve' will be at the forefront of everybody's attitude towards supporting our children emotionally and being their secure and safe adult. 

We encourage all children who attend nurture to choose their favoured person in school to spend their nurture time with. Our aim is to make children feel happy in school and reach their potential educationally. We aim to remove any barriers to their learning. We aim to ensure all children feel valued and able to share their feelings in a safe and caring environment. 

The nurture lead refers to the following in order to provide the right sessions for each individual child:

• Maslow's Hierarchy of Need
• The six Principles of Nurture
• Children's learning is understood developmentally. 
• Offers a safe base
• Development of self-esteem
• Language and communication is vital
• All behaviour is communication
• Importance of transition in children's lives
• Consider the children's needs and developmental stages
• Educational Health Care Plans

How do we implement nurture across our school? 

• Nurture sessions involve a regular weekly session with a favoured adult for 20-30 minutes. 
• The sessions can be individual or in small groups. The sessions are fun and mainly involve role play puppets and games, art, crafts, and stories tailored to the individual needs of the child.
• Children always have time to talk and share their thoughts and feelings and the responses are recorded where appropriate. 
• Staff can refer to 'My Top Tip Cards' that are kept safe in the Nurture room, that provides staff with an overall breakdown of the child's individual needs, activities to support them, likes and dislikes. 
• The Nurture Lead, Head Teacher and ur supporting Mental Health Practitioner meet every half term to discuss our Nurture team and the impact of the nurture sessions. We also hold regular nurture meetings to update the nurture team and provide supervision. 
• The Nurture Lead and Head Teacher meet on a half-termly basis with the East Lancashire Primary Mental Health Practitioner who works with the mental health support team. 

Impact of our work

Children are assessed using our nurture assessment tool in the Autumn term by the class teacher, their nurture person and input from the nurture lead. The lower the score out of 120 reflects the better overall emotional well-being of the child. 

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