Wellbeing & Pastoral Support

We pride oursleves on providing excellent wellbeing and pastoral support for our children at Hammond Junior School. Here are some of the things we provide to support our children to flourish and thrive.

Mental Health Support in School

If you have concerns about your child's mental health and wellbeing  (and it is not an emergency), please talk to your child's class teacher in the first instance. From there, we will be able to direct you to appropriate support or offer provision in school. 

We have an array of provision in school, please take some time to read about what we offer below.  

At Hammond we have a three-tiered graduated approach to support children’s mental health and wellbeing.   

Tier 1 support:  

Most children flourish under our tier 1 provision.  This includes class discussions, assemblies, PSHE lessons, using Zones of Regulation and clubs. For pupils who need extra support, a SEN concern is raised, and additional interventions will be considered.  

Tier 2 support:  

Thrive

Thrive has been working with schools, settings and organisations to support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. Thrive equips educators with training, resources and an award-winning online tool, so they can better understand children and young people’s needs and provide targeted, effective support. With its focus on building secure relationships and providing positive experiences, Thrive helps young people to feel safe, supported and ready to learn and building positive relationships.

The connections children and young people have with the adults around them are key to their social and emotional development. Thrive activities focus on providing positive experiences and building trusting relationships.

This helps young people to:

• Feel good about themselves and know that they matter

• Feel safe and secure in school

• Improve their emotional wellbeing

• Improve their capacity to be creative and curious

• Build their self-esteem and confidence to learn

• Recognise and manage their feelings

• Think before behaving in a certain way...and much more!

How does it work?

Thrive equips educators with strategies and activities to help build young people’s social and emotional skills, as well as develop their ability to manage stress and take on life’s ups and downs.

The Approach is underpinned by neuroscience, attachment theory and child development research and is suitable for children and young people aged 0-25 years.

 

What difference does Thrive make?

Schools that have adopted the Thrive Approach have reported many benefits. These include calmer classrooms with fewer disruptions, improved attendance, reduced exclusions and higher achievements.

To hear first-hand from settings already using Thrive, https://www.visit mythrive.uk/case_studies

 

How will my child be involved in Thrive?

Your child will be profiled using Thrive-Online, an award-winning tool used to measure and monitor social and emotional development. Thrive-Online has behaviour and skills surveys that help staff to see where young people are in their development and identify any pupils who could benefit from additional support.

 

Thrive-Online profiling will be led by school practitioners who will:

• Assess classes, groups and individuals to see where they are in their social and emotional development

• Create targeted action plans to help pupils to manage their behaviour, build emotional resilience and become more open to learning

• Measure and report on progress over time

 

Find out more There is lots more information on the Thrive website: https://www.thriveapproach.com

 

Drawing and Talking Therapy

Drawing and Talking Therapy

 

Lego Therapy

• Improve motivation to initiate social contact with peers

• Improve ability to sustain interaction with peers for a period of time

• Overcome aloofness and/or rigidity

• Learn turn taking in relation to social interaction

• Teaching skills and how to use them in a classroom and unstructured social time.

 

Tier 3 support:  

Sometimes children may need a more tailored approach to meet their needs. Where appropriate, the SENCo will refer to CAMHS or use the educational psychologist who works with our school.  

If you have any concerns regarding your child’s mental health or well-being, please get in contact with their class teacher or our SENCo,  who will be able to support.

 

      

 

Child Mental Health Tips for Families

Zones of Regulation Vocabulary Poster

 

Please find some useful websites that you may find useful to support your child’s mental health at home.

Mental wellbeing | Healthy Surrey  

Mental Health Awareness Week | Mental Health Foundation  

Resources (annafreud.org)  

  

This channel features videos for school staff and parents, to develop understanding and support special educational needs, well-being and mental health. It has been specifically developed for schools and parents of children within the GLF Trust, although the videos are freely available to all.  

Xavier CET Educational Psychology - YouTube  

 

Books for Parents/Carers:  

• What to Do When You Dread Your Bed: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Problems with Sleep - Dawn Huebner  

• Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems - Richard Ferber  

• The Awesome Power of Sleep - Nicola Morgan  

• Reflective Parenting: A Guide to Understanding What's Going on in Your Child's Mind - Alistair Cooper  

• Helping your Child with Fears and Worries 2nd Edition: A self-help guide for parents. - Cathy Creswell and Lucy Willetts  

• No Drama Discipline - Daniel Siegel  

• Beyond the rough rock: Supporting a child who has been bereaved through suicide (Winston’s Wish)  

• You just don’t understand: Supporting bereaved teenagers (Winston’s Wish)  

• The Reality Slap by Russ Harris  

• Brainstorm: The power and purpose of the Teenage Brain - Dan Siegel  

• The Explosive Child - Ross Greene  

• Overcoming….. Series by Cathy Creswell  

• What every parent needs to know - Margot Sunderland  

 

Emotions/Wellbeing books for primary-aged children: Emotional Regulation:  

• Big Bright Feelings book series by Tom Percival (Ruby’s Worry, Perfectly Norman, Tilda Tries Again, Ravi’s Roar)  

• You’ve got dragons - Kathryn Cave & Nick Maland  

• Fergal is Fuming - Robert Starling  

• Beautiful Oops - Barney Saltzberg  

• Relax Kids: The Magic Box

• What makes me do the things I do? - Molly Potter and Sarah Jennings

• The Colour Monster - Anna Llenas

• No Matter What - Debbie Gliori

• In my Heart: A book of feelings - Jo Witek

• Have you filled a bucket today? A guide to daily happiness for kids - Carol McCloud  

• Usborne: All About Feelings

• Feelings: Inside my heart and inside my head  

 

Separation Anxiety:  

• The Invisible String - Patrice Karst  

• The Kissing Hand - Audrey Penn  

• Come to school too, Blue Kangaroo - Emma Chichester Clark  

 

Bereavement:  

• Badger’s Parting Gifts - Susan Varley  

• The day the sea went out and never came back - Margot Sunderland  

• The Sea Saw - Tom Percival  

• Muddles, Puddles and Sunshine (Winston’s Wish)  

• Michael Rosen’s Sad Book  

 

Difficult events/transitions:  

• The Arrival - Shaun Tan  

• The Red Tree - Shaun Tan

• The Invisible - Tom Percival

• The Day you Begin - Jacqueline Woodson  

 

Workbooks:  

• The Confidence Code for Girls - Katty Kay  

• Inside Out: a book about me!  

• Happy Confident Me! workbook  

• Don’t worry Be happy (anxiety workbook for children)

• When my worries get too big (anxiety workbook for children) - Kari Dunn Baron  

• Starving the Anxiety Gremlin (age 5-9) - Kate Collins-Donelly  

• You’re a Star (self-esteem workbook for children) 

 

Please also take a look at our Inclusion & SEND page