At Saint Patrick’s Catholic Primary School our aim is to care for and develop the whole child educationally, emotionally, morally and physically. As well as caring for their education we also care for their mental health and wellbeing. We feel that it is essential to provide children with information to enable them to make life long, well informed decisions about their diet and mental health. This is why all children complete an Anna Freud Survey at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year so we can monitor how they are feeling about all aspects if the school. Mid-year we also complete a ‘Wiltshire Well-being survey’ which allows us again to check in with pupils to see how they are feeling.

As a school we believe that all children deserve to grow up happy and healthy, with life skills that help children to understand themselves and can articulate how they are feeling. That is why in our weekly PSHE sessions we follow a comprehensive PSHE programme called Jigsaw. These sessions often prompt in-depth discussions which allow the children to feel heard and support each other in learning about their feelings. Each classroom also has a worry box that helps to address any daily needs that the children feel they would like individual help with.

We are very lucky to have trained adults in ESLA that are trained and supervised by the Wiltshire Educational Psychology Team. The ELSA programme is designed to train adults to enable them to plan and deliver individual and small group interventions to help pupils develop and manage their emotional literacy.

At breaktimes we have our big blue OPAL bags out that a crammed full of dressing up, paper, paint, pens, musical instruments and PE resources so that the children can unwind and loose themselves in creativity to relax and unwind.