At St Aldhelm’s Church School, we aim to promote positive mental health and wellbeing for our whole school community (children, staff, parents and carers).  We recognise how important mental health and emotional wellbeing is to our lives in just the same way as physical health.  Children’s mental health is a crucial factor in their overall wellbeing and can affect their learning and achievement. 

Our Wellbeing Action Group

We have an active Wellbeing Action Group that started in November 2022.  Our child leaders, with the help of Mrs Newman (Mental Health Lead), have carried out a fantastic job raising awareness around mental health, fundraising for wellbeing events and looking ahead to future projects.  In order to share their messages and updates, they have a display board in the school's central corridor.  They meet regularly to plan, discuss and carry out their latest initiatives.  We hope this year to invite parents to join our Wellbeing Action Group.

The group's main project has been to create a well-being sensory garden for the whole school.  We have been fortunate to have the support from John Wainwright & Co. Ltd. who gifted us four lorry loads of stone, as well as some of their workers to move it and create the paths and areas you see in the pictures.  We have also been successful with Tesco's blue tokens.  The group will now be deciding how best to spend these funds.

The next step for the group is to work with EtaVoni Automation Excellence, who are creating a range of the group's designs (see below).  We are all very excited about this next phase.

Supporting Mental Health and Wellbeing at Home

To help you support your child's mental health and wellbeing at home, the school's newsletter will often have a section with information and tips.  When there are specific pages in the newsletters, these are uploaded on to this page for easy access (see the attachments below). 

You may find the support that the School Nursing Team can offer helpful at this time.  They are available to support parents with a range of advice and strategies.  More information is on the poster below.

Somerset Big Tent is a great place to find the right wellbeing support.  Please visit the website and explore the amazing resources and contacts.  Click on the picture below.

Click on the image below to be taken to the Mental Health Support Team's Padlet.  Here you can find and explore links and resources to support you and your child further.