Wellbeing

Pupil Wellbeing at TPA

At Tadcaster Primary Academy, we are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of all our children. We know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, any one of us may need additional emotional support. We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s responsibility and that we all have a role to play. We do this by:

• Promoting our school values and encouraging a sense of belonging
• Promoting pupil voice and opportunities to participate in decision-making
• Celebrating academic and non-academic achievements
• Providing opportunities to develop a sense of worth through taking responsibility for themselves and others
• Providing opportunities to reflect.
• Helping children feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries
• Helping children socially to form and maintain relationships
• Providing access to appropriate support that meets the child’s needs

Our Daily Check In

Our children begin their day by carrying out a check in. This provides our children the opportunity to talk about how they are feeling from the start of the day. We recognise that children are not ready to learn if they are feeling down or have worries and so having the opportunity to share these is really important.

In all classes children use emotional vocabulary to help them express how they are feeling. Where children need some additional support their peers can offer advice, adults in their team will give them time to talk or we have a trained Pastoral Lead who can provide 1:1 support within our Hub. We prioritise helping children to understand their emotions and feelings better and encourage them to feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries.

The Hub

The Hub is our wonderful pastoral space which provides children a safe place to talk. Hub stands for ‘Helping us Belong’ and is where our Pastoral Lead, Miss Bell, works with our children. Miss Bell supports children through a range of direct 1:1 interventions which include bereavement support, fireworks programme, mindfulness and many other areas which help children to develop emotional resilience and to manage setbacks.

The Hub is also where we meet families who may request additional support in parenting or advice on how to support their child’s mental health and wellbeing. Parents and Carers feel comfortable in approaching our team when they feel they would benefit from support and share the impact this has had on their children and themselves.

Restorative Practice

At Tadcaster Primary Academy, we use Restorative Practice approaches to support our children to talk about the challenges they may face and to resolve conflict in a positive way.  Through working restoratively, relationships are stronger and learning is more effective.

To facilitate, such a process requires the ability to:

• Establish a respectful rapport with people;
• Listen and respond calmly, empathically and without interruption or judgment to all sides of an issue;
• Inspire a sense of safety and trust;
• Encourage people to express their thoughts, feelings and needs appropriately;
• Appreciate the impact of people’s thoughts, feelings, beliefs and unmet needs on their behaviours;
• Encourage those involved in the problem to find their own solutions.

“It’s a kind school, if anything is wrong people will help you. Miss Bell can help too if we need her help”.