Mental Health and Wellbeing
At St Peter's, we are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our pupils and staff. We know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support. We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play.
Trauma Perceptive Practice
Essex County Council has committed to an approach named Trauma Perceptive Practice (TPP), to support schools to understand behaviour and support emotional wellbeing. This is fundamentally grounded in the following values:
- Compassion and Kindness
- Hope
- Connection and Belonging
‘These values are vitally important for us all and equally apply to the adults in school and to the wider school community. Becoming Trauma Perceptive encourages us all to think and act more boldly, through our values, policies and practice. This is vital in helping us to understand how to effectively support children and young people in our schools and beyond, whilst enabling us to create safe places where all can flourish, become resilient and learn’.
At St Peter’s we are developing our practice, policies and procedures in line with the principles of TPP. We have started a programme of staff training which will continue over a 2 year period.
School Resources
We have a member of staff who is trained to provide emotional support (including bereavement counselling) for children. Our SENCo, Mrs Niven, is a qualified to deliver the Drawing and Taking Intervention. We are able to access support additional support for children and families where needs are identified.
Sensory Room
We have recently secured funding to equip a sensory room in school. This will support our more vulnerable children, providing them with a safe, secure space when needed.