Wellbeing  

WELLBEING

 

At Cottesmore St Mary, we recognise that a strong sense of wellbeing is a gateway to life fulfilment. We are committed to providing the children with tools and experiences that help to overcome barriers in an increasingly busy world. In our school, we recognise that practises of wellbeing encourage pupils to believe in themselves, create compassion for themselves and others, and allow them to feel supported when vulnerable.
We want to inspire our children to develop in emotional maturity by giving them practises to use independently at school and in their later lives. We believe that a healthy mind is built through a healthy body, so we encourage healthy eating practises and see physical education and sport as a vital component.
We understand that the wellbeing of all staff is integral to the wellbeing of the children and so our teachers model a culture of calm, care and concern. We know that a school’s ethos and environment influences the wellbeing and mental health of our children, so we work hard to create well-organised, peaceful and inclusive classrooms that allow children to achieve their optimum learning state.

 

Wellbeing Policy

 

Learning Muscles 

We enable children to build their resilience and emotional wellbeing through a cohesive and coordinated response at both class and whole school level. By using our Learning Muscles, we celebrate children who have persevered, been courageous and those who have simply shown a love of learning.  We have golden assemblies to highlight and celebrate the children who have shown these characteristics each week. 

 

 

 Wellbeing Journals 

At Cottesmore, we use our Wellbeing Journals daily to reflect on our emotions and feelings. We use our Wellbeing Journals to develop healthy habits for life, express gratitude, reflect on our emotions and think about our actions. We can also use our Wellbeing Journals as a daily log to explore different emotions we have felt throughout the day Below is a timetable of what we explore each day in our journals: 

 

'Five Ways to Wellbeing'

At Cottesmore St Mary, we champion the 'Five Ways to Wellbeing'. This links to our focus on ensuring our pupils are provided with ways that will help them with their emotional and mental needs now and in the future.

 

The 5 ways are:
Connect - make contact with people, talk and have fun
Be active- move around to aid mood and general health
Take Notice- look around you, explore mindfulness
Keep Learning- develop new skills
Give- Help others, even in small ways

 

  

Positive Affirmations

We use Positive Affirmations, daily, to ensure all members of our community feel confident and value themselves. We believe that these positive messages will allow children to express themselves creatively and feel confident to share their talents and gifts that God has given them.

Free Printable Affirmation Cards

 Click image to view pdf

 

 

Lists of affirmations to use with children

 xxxxx

 Click images to view list inpdf format

 

 

 

Meditation

Our Daily Meditation helps us to be in the ‘present moment’. It awakens our spirituality and give us time to become closer to God. We are a Catholic school, we believe that Christian meditation is a form of prayer in which a structured attempt is made to become aware of and reflect upon the revelations of God. We are inclusive of all faiths and respect and consider the spirituality of all. We also use this time to ground ourselves and channel calmness, ready to focus ourselves in our learning.

 

 

Links to Christian Guided meditations for children

xxxxx

 

 

Mile a-day

Teachers and pupils alike, run the Daily mile with enthusiasm, encouraging children from Reception to Year Six. This allows the children to get outdoors in the fresh air and encourages them to be healthier and fitter, as well as giving them time to regulate themselves in order to concentrate better in the classroom.

 

For more information, please take a look at the Daily Mile website:

 

 

If any children have been bitten by the running bug, here are some links to parkruns in Brighton and Hove:

Parkruns–Free for 4-14 year olds 

click icons to link to the webpages

 

Preston Park

 

Hove Park

 

Spiritual wellbeing

We have a communal prayer area in the centre of the school which has been set up to encourage children to reflect on ways in which they can be kind, with examples of how the Bible (the Word) teaches this. Children are encouraged to write kindness promises and hang them on our Kindness Tree. Their promises were ways in which we could be kind to ourselves (from a wellbeing perspective), how we could be kind to others and how we can be kind to the world.

‘In a world where you can be anything, be kind.’

 

Helping Hands

At the beginning of each school year, we support the children in creating their helping hands, which allows them to identify five key people who can support them through the year. These can be teachers, teaching assistants, midday supervisors, friends in the class, just to name a few. We revisit these helping hands regularly, reminding children of their support systems and encouraging them to talk problems through with the people that they trust.

 

Worry boxes

In every classroom, children have access to a worry box. This helps children to begin to manage their own anxieties. Children can either sign their name, in order to receive help from the teacher, or they can put their worries into the box anonymously, knowing that the box helps to symbolise the idea that these anxious feelings are simply thoughts that we can distance ourselves from.

 

 

 

Cross-curricular

On World Book Day, as a school we read “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” by Charley Macksey. It is about four characters who share an unbreakable bond and have brief but incredibly profound conservations. Charlie Mackesy’s illustrations and text are a celebration of kindness, compassion and understanding, an essential message and something that fits in with our ongoing work regarding kindness towards ourselves and each other.

During the day, each class focused on one of the quotes from the book and completed activities around the theme. Year 5 focused on the page that says, “What do you think success is?” asked the boy. “To love” said the mole. The children then created a class poster identifying what they believed success to be.

Some examples were;

To believe in yourself –Juliet.

To chase your dream –Pip.

To respect others –Kayce.

To choose the right choices –Will.

 

 

 

 

 

Random acts of Kindness

Every year, as part of our EPR curriculum, we partake in a random acts of kindness day. Although we encourage kindness every day from our pupils we use this day as a platform to celebrate and encourage random acts of kindness and a pay it forward mentality. Throughout the duration of this day, we stick post it notes to classroom doors with kind messages and words for each other. We believe as a school, that no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. 

 

 

Mindful breathing videos

At Cottesmore St Mary the children get the chance to practice different mindful-breathing techniques. Videos are provided to the children filmed by different teachers across the school so it’s a familiar face for the children. Breathing calms children by slowing them down. Breathwork is a simple—and very powerful—tool that can help young children calm themselves when big feelings arise. It’s also very empowering for a child to be able to manage their own feelings. Please feel free to join in with your child!

click the image to view the video