Wellbeing

Evidence shows that across the UK, mental health issues in children are increasing while child wellbeing is deteriorating. Young people today have to navigate a complex and ever-changing world, facing challenges and pressures in numerous aspects of their life. We are committed to providing an environment which promotes emotional wellbeing. The social and emotional skills, knowledge and behaviours that young people learn in our school help them to build resilience and set the pattern for how they will manage their mental health throughout their lives.

Emotional wellbeing is a one indicator of academic achievement and of long-term success and satisfaction in later life. Evidence shows that mental health and wellbeing programmes in schools can lead to significant improvements in children’s future prospects and social and emotional skills. Wellbeing provision in schools has also been shown to lead to reductions in classroom misbehaviour and bullying.

At London Fields Primary School we believe that there should be a greater focus on prevention. We aim to reduce the stigma around talking about our own wellbeing and to develop children’s emotional intelligence and emotional literacy. ‘Emotional intelligence’ refers a person's overall ability to deal with their emotions, while ‘emotional literacy’ suggests a person's ability to communicate their emotions through words and read them in others.  We are committed to supporting all of our pupils to learn the following:

• Knowing emotions.  Recognising a feeling as it happens.
• Managing emotions. How to reassure themselves when they feel anxious or upset.
• Self-Motivation. How to be in charge of their emotions, rather than controlled by them.
• Empathy. To be aware of what another person is feeling.
• Handling relationships. To build respectful relationships with others.

To achieve this we will be implementing many different strategies, including drawing inspiration from ‘Zones of Regulation’  to support the children to be able talk about and reflect on how they are feeling and why. This is to all to help their minds ‘feel well’.

Counselling Provision

We are fortunate enough at London Fields to be able to offer full time counselling provision. We have a school counsellor with us for 3 days of the week, an art therapist 1 day a week and we have a Place2Be counsellor for 1 day a week who offers counselling and a drop- in service. Please click here to see more information about Place2Be. Click here to read more about our London Fields counselling service. 

WAMHS

London Fields is part of the WAMHS (wellbeing and mental health in schools) project in Hackney. This has given the school access to wider training on a range of issues relating to mental health and wellbeing. It has also provided the school with a mental health practitioner, as part of the ‘Clinician Within Schools’ support for wellbeing. Our CWIS (clinician within schools) visits the school monthly and offers consultation and advice. Their role is not to do direct work with children but to be a bridge between school and external mental health provision within Hackney. Please see the WAMHS handbook for more information. London Fields is also delighted to be in Wave 1 of the Trailblazer Mental Health Support Teams in Schools, MHST. As part of this the school has been allocated a MHST trainee who will be able to work directly with children and families. This greatly increases the capacity of the school to support children's emotional wellbeing.

 Click here to see the WAMHs parent leaflet. 

Click here to see the information letter for parents

Click here for information on opting out of WAMHs.

Anti-Bullying

London Fields Primary School is committed to an ethos of inclusion, respect and justice. Our school is a caring and safe place for all of our children so that they can learn and play while feeling relaxed, valued and understood.

We believe that bullying of any kind is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our school. We take all incidents of bullying seriously. No one deserves to be a victim of bullying. Everybody has the right to be treated with respect and pupils who are bullying others need to learn different ways of behaving and need guidance in how to make positive choices in the future. We believe in supporting the children to build long lasting, respectful relationships with one another, in order to prevent bullying behaviours from happening. 

London Fields Primary School acknowledges that bullying can and does happen from time to time. When bullying does occur, everyone should feel able to tell a member of staff and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly and effectively in accordance with our school behaviour policy.

All children and young people have the right to be protected from physical, emotional and mental violence; a right enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Children also have the right to learn, live, travel and play in a safe environment where they can thrive and achieve their full potential. All members of the school community have the responsibility to recognise bullying when it occurs and take appropriate action in accordance with school policies. 

We at London Fields Primary School want:

• All children to feel safe to learn, play and enjoy the company of others.
• All children and adults feel valued, respected and safe
• Everyone to listen carefully to what children and adults have to say and treat all accounts with due seriousness.