Mental Health and Wellbeing – Our Whole School Approach

At St Mark’s, we follow a Whole School Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing. Al Stephens has completed the Department for Education training and is our Senior Mental Health Lead.

Our Whole-School Approach involves all parts of the school working together; our pupils, parents/carers, and our local community.

We recognise that the needs of every child are individual and as a school we work together to nurture and support, holding this in mind.

Below are links to resources that may be helpful. Some of these may be familiar to your children and yourselves as we have previously shared or utilised them.

ELSA

We have 3 qualified ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants) on our staff team. Mrs. Burton, Mrs. Stephens, and Mr. Johnson work on both a 1:1 and small group basis, supporting in areas such as social skills, emotions, bereavement, social stories, anger management, self-esteem, and friendships.

Forest School

Mr. Johnson is a qualified Forest School Lead. Throughout the school year, every pupil at St Mark’s will have the amazing opportunity to engage in at least 6 weekly sessions. Many pupils will visit the forest school once a week throughout the year.

Nurture

We have a successful nurture group run by Mrs Stephens who is a qualified nurture practitioner. 

MIND 

Year Six children have the opportunity to work talk with a support worker from MIND as part of an early intervention project called the 'Big Umbrella' aimed at building young people's resilience and equipping them with the skills to manage and maintain good mental wellbeing. 

Walk and Talk

The school works closely with the Purbeck Youth and Community Foundation and a youth worker attends the school on a regular basis to run 'Walk and Talk' sessions. 

We also work in conjunction with the following organisations: