Mental Health and Well Being

WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY

MONDAY 10TH OCTOBER

 

What do we do to look after our Mental Health at Puss Bank school??

 

We have an amazing amount of activities at Puss Bank School and Nursery to help us be more active, creative and healthy. We regularly check in with the things we can do to improve our mental health.

1. Drink water

2. Get enough sleep

3. Be active

4. Laugh out loud and spend time with your loved ones.

5. Eat healthy foods

6. Use your brain

 

Can you think of anything else you can do to look after your mental health?

These are the dates for courses run by Visyon to support parents of children who need help in a range of issues. Please open the document links for more information.

 

11/07/2022         Sleep workshop (Oak Tree children’s centre in Crewe)

12/07/2022^h       Sleep workshop (Visyon, Congleton)

13/07/2022         Supporting your child with additional needs workshop (Visyon, Congleton)

13/07/2022         Sleep workshop (Sandbach children’s centre)

18/07/2022       Self-harm and suicide awareness workshop (Oak Tree children’s centre, Crewe)

19/07/2022         Parental separation workshop (Visyon, Congleton)

20/07/2022       Self harm and suicide awareness workshop (Visyon, Congleton)

27/07/2022       Childhood development workshop (Visyon, Congleton)

Mental Health First Aid Boxes

 A Mental Health First Aid box! This box is full of things that can be used when a child is feeling ‘not ok’. None of the items are new ideas, just things over the years our teachers and teaching assistants have used on a more individual basis with children who have needed support for a whole host of reasons. We came up with the idea after completing the Mental Health First Aiders course as a way we could support everyone around school. Funded by a generous grant from the Macclesfield Town Council and help from the Friends of Puss Bank we now have a box in every classroom. Each teacher will use it differently to suit their class, as and when some one needs time out from the curriculum. We introduced it to the children by sharing the video below!

Whether your child is in school or at home for Mental Health Week all teachers will be sharing ideas about how to look after their Mental Health with the children. We are using lots of resources from Place2Be, and you can click on the link below to see some of their ideas.

Looking After Yourself During Lockdown

We often find ourselves wondering what has happened? Why can't I go to school?

 

The truth is it is all very complicated but we have to follow the rules set out by the government. At this time we are to stay at home and only go out for exercise once a day. If at all possible only one person from your household should go to the shops and you should not be mixing with other households unless you are in a 'bubble' with someone for child care or to look after them.

 

HOW DO I LOOK AFTER MYSELF WHEN MY PARENTS ARE BUSY?

 

When we were in school, in Autumn term we learnt about ways to keep our mental health healthy! You need to think back to the ways you can do this:

Exercise- make sure you get outside if you can and do some exercise, going for a walk is fantastic, watch the nature change in the park, go for a run or a bike ride. If you are indoors, then find an exercise video online to follow. 

Drink water- Water will keep your brain and your body hydrated!

 

Eat healthily- make sure you eat up and enjoy your meals.

 

Sleep- at night go to sleep when your mum or dad tells you to, make sure all devices are switched off and away at least an hour, preferably two hours before you go to sleep. This will help you get to sleep, reading a book will help you relax and fall asleep.

 

Mindfulness-find ways to calm down and relax, you could meditate, do some colouring in, listen to some calming music.

 

Keep your brain active- Learn something new! You have to do home learning at the moment so you are constantly learning something new from school but what have you chosen to learn for yourself?  A new language, how to draw, crafting, a new sports skill?? lot's of ideas online for you to explore.

 

 

The members of the Mental Health and Well Being team are:

 

Y6- Meg B, Harley C, Hannah C and Jackson S.

 

 

 

Teachers- Mrs Smith and Mr Cooper 

 

 

How many of the kindness challenges can you complete?? 
Let your teachers know if you manage to complete any- you can email them to tell them!

The Mental Health team are part of a project at Tytherington High School, they receive training on how to be our Mental Health Ambassadors. 

 

Mrs Smith and Mr Cooper are both trained as Mental Health First Aiders.

We believe we are well on our way to being able to help anyone in our school community who seeks help, if they need it. 

5 steps to Mental Health and Well Being

If we consider the following 5 things we can help ourselves to look after our mental health.

 

 

Connect with people

 

When we talk to people, and share how we feel we often feel better. Sometimes it can take more than one attempt to talk to feel better but don't give up.

 

Some of the following things we do at Puss Bank School to help people connect are:

 

Greeting each other when we first see each other on the morning- your teacher will try to say hello to everyone as you come into class in the morning.

 

We have Playground Friends who are on the playground at playtime who will set up games for you to join in with.

 

We encourage everyone to say thank you when someone does something kind. e.g holding the door open for you or in class when someone passes pencils or books to you.

 

At play times, the adults on the playground are there to make you feel safe and happy. You can talk to any of them if you have a problem - if they see that you are upset they will ask you can they help you.

 

In lots of classrooms, there are worry monsters or question boxes where you can leave messages for your teachers- they will get back to you and help you.

 

Mr Cooper has a box in KS2 in the library, and in KS1 the box is on the wall near Mr Branskey's room.