Good staff wellbeing is essential for cultivating a mentally healthy school, for retaining and motivating staff and for promoting pupil wellbeing and attainment
There is some fantastic work going on in Derby City schools and a small number of examples are here. If there is something amazing going on in your school, or if you want to learn more about any of the examples here, please get in touch on our contact page.
‘The Big Book Of Blobs’
The Big Book of Blobs, written by Pip Wilson and Ian Long, is a useful (and highly photocopiable(!)) tool for helping Primary and Secondary school children to explore their feelings. Blob characters are depicted in many different situations which can be used as a springboard for meaningf...Read more
The Big Book of Blobs, written by Pip Wilson and Ian Long, is a useful (and highly photocopiable(!)) tool for helping Primary and Secondary school children to explore their feelings.
Blob characters are depicted in many different situations which can be used as a springboard for meaningful discussion on a range of issues and topics. The Blobs are often organised into themes of places, issues, occasions and personal development, and include scenarios such as the beach, cinema, city, concert, home, playground, bullying, death, fame, money, parents, romance, sleep, Christmas, Easter, Olympics, body, caring and feelings.
'The Big Book of Blobs' is used regularly at Redwood Primary School by Sue Smith, a learning mentor, who has found it very useful in helping pupils who otherwise struggle to express their feelings open up. The blobs are most useful when used in the initial stages of a conversation or intervention with a pupil, and can help to identify and stimulate a discussion around what that pupil is feeling.
Please Note: There are differently age appropriate Blobs, whereby some may be seen doing things which you may not consider appropriate, (such as carrying or shooting guns), so make sure to look over the blobs before using them!
Compassion and Wellbeing in Education Day
An exciting opportunity with UK and Worldwide leads.
Click to book: https://www.derby.ac.uk/events/latest-events/compassion-and-wellbeing-in-education/
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An exciting opportunity with UK and Worldwide leads.
Get your place booked... Headteachers, Senior Leaders, Inclusion Leaders, Behaviour leads, Senior Mental Health Leads, SENCos, Teachers, Governors.
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Get your place booked... Headteachers, Senior Leaders, Inclusion Leaders, Behaviour leads, Senior Mental Health Leads, SENCos, Teachers, Governors.
DSMHL Network dates
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We have dates planned for future Designated Senior Mental Health Leaders Training for your diaries. These will all be held on MS Teams.
Wed 12th October 2022 – 1pm to 2.30pm
Wed 14th December 2022 – 1pm to 2.30pm
Fri 3rd February 2023 – 1pm to 2.30pm
Fri 17th March 2023 – 10am to 11.30am
Wed 17th May 2023 – 1pm to 2.30pm
Fri 30th June 2023 - 10.30am to 12pm*
* this may change to possibly a day – considering face to face celebrating good practice day – will be confirmed.
There is still time to book if you haven't already:
Derby city schools and local organisations you are invited to join us for our InclusionConference. It aims to celebrate and share local expertise that are building in Derby city,supporting schools to be inclusive.
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There is still time to book if you haven't already:
Derby city schools and local organisations you are invited to join us for our Inclusion Conference. It aims to celebrate and share local expertise that are building in Derby city, supporting schools to be inclusive.
Calling Derby City Schools, have you booked your place yet?
Relational, Attachment and Trauma informed classrooms 7 day course, starting Thursday 5th October 2023 This course takes relevant concepts from neurodevelopmental research and attachment theory, brings them into the classroom, and empowers school staff to apply this knowledge to the teaching and learning process. Click here to view the full flyer:
Below is a quick link signposting to all the NHS recommended Mental Health and Well Being organisations that are used in Derbyshire.
https://derbyandderbyshireemotionalhealthandw...Read more
Below is a quick link signposting to all the NHS recommended Mental Health and Well Being organisations that are used in Derbyshire.
https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/social-health/health-and-wellbeing/mental-health-and-wellbeing/mental-health-and-wellbeing.aspx
This is primarily fo...Read more
This is primarily focused at staff and volunteers who aren't qualified mental health professionals. It reflects a whole-system cross-sector workforce approach to prevention and support, and reinforces that mental health is everyone's business.
Mental Health Training for FREE. derbyshire.gov.uk
These training courses teach individuals how to identify, understand and help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue.
The training is delivered both face-to-face and virtual (...Read more
Mental Health Training for FREE.derbyshire.gov.uk
These training courses teach individuals how to identify, understand and help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue.
The training is delivered both face-to-face and virtual (online interactive) course.
The youth Mental Health First aid courses teach the skills and confidence to help spot the signs of mental health issues in a young person, offer first aid and guide them towards the support they need. The adult Mental Health First aid courses are suitable for individuals whose role may include provision of support to adults who may have emotional distress, be at higher risk of mental health difficulties, or who have experience of mental health problems. Participants must be over 18 to attend our courses.
Mental health awareness course
This is a half-day course designed to increase skills and confidence of staff and volunteers. It gives participants a general awareness and understanding of mental health, including addressing stigma, and an overview of resources and services.
The course is suitable for public-facing roles that require general mental health awareness or as an introduction to the topic of mental health. It's currently available as a virtual (online interactive) course only.
Suicide awareness and prevention
This training course builds general awareness and understanding of suicide, addresses stigma, provides details of resources and services and equips you with related skills. It's suitable for people who may come into contact with vulnerable individuals at risk of suicide.
It's currently available as a virtual course only. The course consists of a combination of individual e-learning and a half-day group virtual (online interactive) training session. The e-learning consists of 3 short modules which take approximately one hour to complete in total and which must be completed prior to attending group virtual (online interactive) training session.
Suicide bereavement training
Funded by Joined Up Care Derbyshire, this virtual (online interactive) training is for staff and volunteers from statutory, community and voluntary sector organisations, working in either Derbyshire or Derby.
Derby City Schools
Emotionally Based School Non Attendance3 day course, cohort one starting Wednesday 18th October 2023This course is for infant, junior and primary schools and develops an understanding of the impact on students who are having severe difficulties attending scho...Read more
Derby City Schools
Emotionally Based School Non Attendance 3 day course, cohort one starting Wednesday 18th October 2023 This course is for infant, junior and primary schools and develops an understanding of the impact on students who are having severe difficulties attending school, how to identify those at risk of developing difficulties and how to help them.
Mr. R Meehan, Assistant Head at the City of Derby Academy (CODA), talked to the Emotionally Health Schools team about the implementation, benefits and practicalities of using the PASS survey at the School for the first time.
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Mr. R Meehan, Assistant Head at the City of Derby Academy (CODA), talked to the Emotionally Health Schools team about the implementation, benefits and practicalities of using the PASS survey at the School for the first time.
CODA has over the last academic year implemented the PASS survey as a part of a larger suite of GL assessments to help "measure aspects of life at school that weren't otherwise measured". Targeted specifically at years 7 - 10 to avoid disruption to year 11 exams, students were given up to 20 minutes to fill in the survey one form-group at a time after being briefed by their teacher about the survey's purpose. Mr Meehan indicated that the cost of the survey had been covered by the Pupil Premium funding received by the School.
The results of the survey are broken down into multiple levels across a number of different demographics such as school year, gender and nationality and are then graded through a traffic light system. Once completed, the results were then shared with all staff at CODA, not just teaching staff. Mr Meehan emphasized that he felt it was important for all staff to see the schools position to really embed a whole school approach and awareness to its pupil's mental and emotional health.
The results of the survey allowed CODA to see both the areas of strength and the areas of improvement across the entire picture of the school, with most of the results coming out as Green highlighting the good work undertaken by the school already. The survey was then embedded with existing support structures in the school - those pupils who came out Amber were passed to CODA's pupil-led 'Wellbeing Ambassador' team, and those that came out as Red were passed to the schools 'Pastoral team' for 1-to-1 interventions.
While it was useful for CODA to see the breakdown in that way, Mr Meehan warned schools to consider the total numbers of students in any given group before acting. If there are only a handful of students in a given category, can the results in that category be considered as statistically significant? Mr Meehan indicated that where an issue was identified in a smaller cohort by the survey, individual results were given greater weight to gain a fuller understanding.
When asked what he felt the limitations to the survey were, Mr Meehan outlined firstly that there was no indication in the results of how long pupils had taken to fill in the survey. Mr Meehan questioned the accuracy of the answers given by a pupil that may rushed through and completed the survey in 5 or so minutes, although because of this missing information it was impossible to tell. Mr Meehan also raised an issue regarding pupil comprehension of the survey questions, although this was mitigated by a clear and concise briefing by the form-tutor at the start of the exercise.
When asked if he would recommend the survey to other schools in Derby City that might be considering it, Mr Meehan indicated that it is a useful tool, it was worth doing but any school that is considering it should do so more than once in order to see the 'distance traveled' and improvements year-to-year.
The Pass Survey is appropriate for use in both Primary and Secondary schools, If you would like to read more about the Pass Survey, click here.
Senior Mental Health Lead’s
If you haven’t yet claimed funding for the training of mental health leaders in your school, there is another opportunity to do so this year. This funding is in addition to the previous Opportunity Area funded training and Derby schools are encouraged to use this DFE opportunity to train addit...Read more
If you haven’t yet claimed funding for the training of mental health leaders in your school, there is another opportunity to do so this year. This funding is in addition to the previous Opportunity Area funded training and Derby schools are encouraged to use this DFE opportunity to train additional staff.
City of Derby AcademyDesignated Senior Lead for Mental Health: Pam Bancroft
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City of Derby Academy Designated Senior Lead for Mental Health: Pam Bancroft
City of Derby Academy (CODA) have introduced some small
changes that make a huge difference to the way their school makes you feel.
One of the most noticeable is the replacement of a
traditional bell for between classes, which has been replaced by music. The
music is upbeat and plays for as long as it’s expected to take to walk the
corridors to the next class. The result is that pupils are more motivated and
uplifted between classes.
This is one of many initiatives for CODA. They have
introduced a punch bag room, for 5 minutes of boxing when pupils become
frustrated in class or otherwise throughout the day. There are ‘worry boxes’
clearly displayed around the school that are emptied daily by the pastoral
teams. There are also notice boards with displays about equalities and
wellbeing, such as LGBT issues or mindfulness.
CODA also have a wellbeing room that is used for peer to
peer support, enabling pupils to go and chat with their peers about anything
that might be worrying them. There is a screened off computer for children to
use confidentially and access services such as Childline. There is a sensory
room and children can operate lights and music using Bluetooth from the phones.
Small touches, such as using tennis balls on the bottom of chairs, to reduce
the noise levels in classrooms also have a magical effect in making the space
feel calm and conducive to learning.
Parents also report a clear and consistent reward system in
place that works well in motivating children. This includes a point system,
where you can save up points for good behaviour and exchange them for something
you want, like pens, a new lanyard or a football.
The cumulative effect of all these small changes, result in
pupils feeling calmer, better valued and motivated to achieve in school.
Suicide Bereavement Training for Derby & Derbyshire – FREE ONLINE
NB: @dva.org.uk
Joined Up Care Derbyshire have commissioned Harmless to deliver half day Suicide Bereavement training sessions online for staff and volunteers from a broad range of statutory, community and voluntary sector organisations, working within Derbyshire county and Ci...Read more
NB: @dva.org.uk
Joined Up Care Derbyshire have commissioned Harmless to deliver half day Suicide Bereavement training sessions online for staff and volunteers from a broad range of statutory, community and voluntary sector organisations, working within Derbyshire county and City.
Please note that you must work with people in Derby/shire in order to meet eligibility criteria for this free training session
This course is designed to enable participants to effectively explore and understand the following:
- The magnitude of suicide bereavement
- Suicide loss as a unique form of complex bereavement
- 'Complicated grief', trauma, and other individual responses to suicide
- The wider impact of bereavement on those exposed to or affected by suicide
- The stigma and shame associated with suicide and bereavement
- Bereavement by suicide as a unique risk factor for suicide
Dale Community Primary School and Stonehill Nursery SchoolDesignated Senior Lead for Mental Health: Louise Foster, Headteacher
Dale Primary and Stonehill Nursery schools both sit under
one Designated Senior Lead for Mental Health (DSLMH), Louise Foster, who is
also...Read more
Dale Community Primary School and Stonehill Nursery School Designated Senior Lead for Mental Health: Louise Foster, Headteacher
Dale Primary and Stonehill Nursery schools both sit under
one Designated Senior Lead for Mental Health (DSLMH), Louise Foster, who is
also the Headteacher for both schools. Before joining Cohort 1 of the
programme, they were already investing in CPD on wellbeing for their staff and so were able to use the Emotionally
Healthy Schools Programme to review their strengths and weaknesses in this area
at both schools and to build on existing foundations.
The schools have now accessed the first two grants available
and used the money to top up their own investment and obtain resources that
will allow the learning to be implemented and become business as usual within
the settings.
In order to assess how the money would be spent, the first
grant of £500 has been used to free up time to engage fully with the programme,
including completing the diagnostic and conducting and analysing whole school
questionnaires. The outcome of these informed the new Mental Health and
Wellbeing policy. An INSET day was also planned for both schools to brief staff on the steps the school is taking and gain
whole staff buy into the programme.
An action plan was then developed, which identified how the
second grant of £1000 would be best spent in order to have whole school impact.
These activities include:
Improving displays in staff rooms, to include information about out of hours support and staff counselling.
Installing ‘I think my teacher should know’ boxes in all KS2 classrooms and in the community rooms.
Developing areas within classrooms with a mental health focus, including books linked to mental health and wellbeing that are age appropriate.
Investing in resources for parents, to be used in half termly coffee mornings. These will support parents to identify and support their child when they may need additional support with their mental health and wellbeing.
By improving visibility of mental health resources across
the school, Dale and Stonehill schools are tackling the stigma surrounding this
issue and making it normal and ok to talk about. This will then allow staff to
better identify those in need of extra support.
The Whole School Approach at St Martins
On Tuesday 19th November we visited St Martins specialist school in Alvaston, Derby to see ho...Read more
On Tuesday19th November we visited St Martins specialist school in Alvaston, Derby to see how the school has fully embraced and embedded a whole school approach to its young people's Emotional and Mental Health.
The first thing that is apparent when visiting St Martins and speaking to the staff for the first time is the absolute passion they have for their young people's emotional and mental wellbeing. Throughout the visit it became clear that creating a supportive environment for their young people's emotional and mental wellbeing sits closely allied to providing a meaningful and quality education. Crucially, and as was emphasised to us by our tour guide, the schools DSLMH Emma Banks, the two sit in parallel with each other occupying equal states of importance in the culture of the school. After all, as Emma says, "young people can't learn when they're in a bad place emotionally."
St Martins has embedded the emotional and mental wellbeing culture through the application of mechanisms and support into all aspects of school life - from the governance and leadership structures, the mindset of the teaching staff, the structure of the timetable, the approach to teaching and the curriculum itself and even to the design and layout of the walls and noticeboards.
In particular, the use of parallel governance and leadership structures that have a specific remit of mental health and wellbeing across the school seems vital. Having a group of Governors and Assistant Headteacher Laura Crawford to strategically lead wellbeing across the school ensures inclusion of emotional and mental wellbeing and embeds it in the strategy of the school. The pupils themselves are then integrated into the system through a well-being committee which is a part of the student council structure, which itself links directly to the Governors.
This is then reinforced and anchored in the day-to-day actions of the school by Emma's team of wellbeing support staff who (alongside other things) operate a simple but effective system of pupil and staff referrals for extra support. Any teacher can refer a pupil or a pupil can refer themselves, and once their needs are assessed by the team, they will unlock a myriad of individualised and bespoke interventions to support that young person.
These interventions can range from a simple 1-to-1 conversation to an individualised timetable for that particular young person. Importantly, these interventions aren't necessarily off-the-shelf solutions brought in from external organisations - they are most often designed as specific, bespoke and individual solutions to the needs of that young person.
Emma recognised that by no means was the system St Martins have implemented perfect or easy at times - in the past it had over-relied on individual members of staff and suffered as a result of those staff taking time away. There had also been some issues regarding teacher buy-in and a contention around taking a young person out of classes, particularly on a regular basis. However, after three successive 'Outstanding' ratings by Ofsted and a larger wellbeing staff team the results clearly speak for themselves.
If you have any direct questions for Emma or if you would like to discuss any of the details above in further depth, don't hesitate to send her an email at - E.Banks@stmartins.derby.sch.uk. You can also contact Laura Crawford, St Martins Assistant Headteacher, SENCO and Designated Safeguarding Lead at - L.Crawford@stmartins.derby.sch.uk
Transforming school cultures through Relationships and Sex Education
https://services.derbyshire.gov.uk/Event/201299
Young people are telling us, in local ( RSE Portal Survey) and national (...Read more
Young people are telling us, in local ( RSE Portal Survey) and national (Sex Ed Forum RSE Poll) research, that the RSE they receive is’ not yet helping them to navigate the realities of their lives’( quote from Ofsted Review of Sexual Abuse in Schools and Colleges 2021).
This session will support schools to explore effective pedagogy in RSE that helps to increase young peoples’ meaningful engagement and fosters inclusion of their everyday experiences.
Using pupil voice to re-brand school ethos and Values
Silverhill Primary School,Headteacher: Andrew Gallagher
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Silverhill Primary School, Headteacher: Andrew Gallagher
Silverhill Primary school used the Emotionally Healthy Schools Project as an opportunity to re-brand their school ethos and values around wellbeing, before moving on to developing their action plan. Andrew Gallagher, Headteacher and Designated Senior Lead for Mental Health (DSLMH) took inspiration from the quote: "They may forget what you said, but they'll never forget how you made them feel."
Everyone remembers the teachers who made them happy and those who made them sad or scared. With this in mind, Andrew went into every classroom in his school and developed ‘mood boards’ with the pupils. Children were encouraged to cut and stick images that represented how they want school to make them feel.
There were no rules for this exercise and no right or wrong
way for children to engage with the activity. One child stuck images of toast
on the board and talked about how much he likes having toast at school. As a
result, the class teacher provides toast as a regular treat for rewarding good
attitudes and if the class has worked well as a team through the week.
Andrew and his SLT have used these mood boards to re-brand
the whole school ethos based on key words and messages the children were using.
By including pupils at the start of the process, they feel ownership over their
school and children were proud of what they had made and that their voices were
heard. The boards have been framed and displayed as a reminder of what
the pupils want from their school.
This is a great example of how to involve pupils in key
policies and how to boost their self-esteem and pride in their school.
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