Mental Health and Wellbeing
The mental health and wellbeing of our children and staff is of paramount importance at Leslie Manser. We strongly believe that until a child is in a positive place with their mental health, they are unlikely to be able to achieve their social and academic best.
We are very proud to have been working with the Mental Health Support Team (MHST) since 2020 when their pilot scheme was launched. This allows us to access Education Mental Health Practitioners to help us triage any children, where either parents/carers or staff have a concern. In addition, MHST offer regular training in person or online, to staff for example learning about low-mood, self-esteem or resilience alongside a comprehensive website full of resources for professionals. They also run workshops with identified children or whole year groups including Worry Workshops and transitions into Year 7 for our oldest children.
We have also been lucky enough to have had Practitioners come into some of our SEND coffee afternoons to share their expertise with parents and carers.
Through the MHST triage, we are able to get support for both children and their parents/carers. We are able to access Healthy Minds for the excellent Thrive course for parents to learn how to support their child with their mental health, 1:1 or small group
sessions with an MHST Practitioner or a referral can be triaged to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) for children who require a more intensive level of support.
Parents/carers are always welcome to seek support from school for mental health concerns linked to their child and time will always be made to talk this through in detail. There are also opportunities throughout the year for parents/carers to make direct contact with our Education Mental Health Practitioner to discuss their child in detail.
Pastoral support is also a priority at Leslie Manser and all staff take huge pride in their ‘above and beyond’ ethos with the children and their families. Wishes and Feelings sessions regularly happen with children on a 1:1 basis if they are feeling a little wobbly. Often the children choose to share their Wishes and Feelings work with their parents/carers with school staff helping to be their voice. We have seen much positivity with children through using this approach over the years.
Most recently, we have trained two Teaching Assistants to become an ELSA (Emotional
Literacy Support Assistant) which gives us even greater scope to support our children. Again, these sessions can be 1:1 or small groups depending on the needs of the child. Sessions can be linked to developing play skills, anger management, understanding emotions and more. A requirement of having trained ELSAs working in school is that they have supervision regularly with an Educational Psychologist. This confidential process ensures that our children are supported in the very best way possible, with constant access to new resources and ways of thinking occur within the world of mental health.
As a school, we invest heavily in training staff in mental health and wellbeing but we also invest training in our children. Our Roles and Responsibilities appointed Wellbeing Champions have also been trained by our MHST Practitioner and we have also done some of their online training linked to the ‘5 Steps to Wellbeing’. These children have been instrumental in helping to design our ‘Wellbeing Emotional Check In’ which are being effectively used in every classroom. The children are very good at supporting their peers and really looking out for each other. We are very proud of our Wellbeing Champions who are as young as Year 1.
Below are some useful websites but please remember that we very much have an open door policy so please contact the office to make an appointment with our Pastoral and Mental Health Lead, Mrs Lintin, if you have any concerns regarding your child’s emotions or mental health.
kooth.com
lpft.nhs.uk
childbereavementuk.org
samaritans.org
lincolnshire.connecttosupport.org
