Wellbeing and Mental Health

At St. James’, we aim to promote positive mental health and wellbeing for our whole school community (children, staff, parents and carers), and recognise how important mental health and emotional wellbeing is to our lives. We recognise that children’s mental health is a crucial factor in their overall wellbeing and can affect their development, learning and achievement. All children go through ups and downs during their school career and some face significant life events.

The Department for Education (DfE) recognises that: “in order to help their children succeed; schools have a role to play in supporting them to be resilient and mentally healthy”. Schools can be a place for children and young people to experience a nurturing and supportive environment that has the potential to develop self-esteem and give positive experiences for overcoming adversity and building resilience. For some, school will be a place of respite from difficult home lives and offer positive role models and relationships, which are critical in promoting children’s wellbeing and can help create a sense of belonging and community.

Our role in school is to ensure that children are able to manage times of change and stress, and that they are supported to strive to achieve their best and access help when they need it. We also have a role to ensure that children learn about what they can do to maintain positive mental health, what affects their mental health, how they can help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues, and where they can go if they need help and support.

Our aim is to help develop the protective factors which build resilience to mental health problems and to be a school where:

All children are valued.
Children have a sense of belonging and feel safe.
Children feel able to talk openly with trusted adults about their problems without feeling any stigma.
Positive mental health and wellbeing is promoted and valued across school.
Bullying is not tolerated.

Just as people’s bodies can become unwell, people’s minds can become unwell too. Mental health problems are more common than you think – three children in every classroom have a mental health problem (Young Minds).

If you are worried about you or your child’s mental health or wellbeing you can talk about this with your GP and/or in confidence to a member of school staff or our SENDCo to seek support and advice on next steps to work together.

Recommended Sites
Mental health difficulties can be extremely hard to talk about but there is a lot of support available. Below are some links to key organisations offering professional and confidential help:

A leading mental health charity with information about where to access support, legal advice and confidential help lines. Visit https://www.mind.org.uk/ and https://youngminds.org.uk/
An NHS website with suggestions about living well and links to national support organisations for adults and young people. Visit https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/
This website has some great tips and ideas for helping to support children and parents too. Visit https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/
This website provides lots of tips and support for children including video clips and fun online games to help support with mindfulness. Visit https://www.childline.org.uk/kids

Summer Term Wellbeing Newsletter

Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy

DfE Wellbeing Charter

Hello Yellow! Year 6 completed a range of activities about mental health. They discussed how we can keep our mental health in top shape, and also how we can help those around us. They particularly enjoyed starting the afternoon with a 5 minute meditation by listening to some calm music and resting their heads on the table. The Wellbeing Team came round and gave everyone a yellow wrist band to remind ourselves of the importance of mental health.

Yr 6 – PSHE – Hello Yellow!

Year 2 have been busy learning about their feelings and emotions during their Inside Out sessions in the Spring Term 2025. They shared what makes them sad, angry and happy. They learnt how their emotions affect their body and that it is okay to be angry and feel different emotions to others.

Year 2 Inside Out

Children took part in Children's Mental Health Week 2025. They learn about themselves, others and the importance of sharing how you feel. They discussed the importance of mental health and how to support their emotional wellbeing.

Children's Mental Health Week 2025

Yr1 PSHE SCARF – Similarities and Differences

Celebrating Kindness in Yr 1 PSHE!❤️ Yr 1 explored their similarities and differences while recognising that we are all the same on the inside. They discussed the impact of teasing and bullying, and how they can stand up for ourselves and our friends.