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Holgate Primary and Nursery

Holgate Primary and Nursery

Wellbeing

Mental Health & Well- being is a high priority for pupils and staff at Holgate Primary School and the Senior Leadership Team leads this.

Responsibility Staff Members
Designated Safeguarding Leads
  • Nicola Davies
  • Sam Sheridan
  • Sally Harvey
  • Amy Woodhead
  • Emily Davies
  • Sarah Bacon
  • Izzy Roe
  • Adam Rathe
  • Ellie Baker 
Inclusion Team
  • Sally Harvey (Executive Inclusion Leader)
  • Ellie Baker (SENCO)
PSHE Coordinator
  • David Gleave
Mental Health First Aiders
  • Sarah Hicklin

Meet our Mental Health First Aider

I am Mrs Hicklin. In school, I work as a TA in KS2 classes working with small groups of children. Over the years, I have attended many courses to help with children’s well-being and mental health. I have proudly achieved my Mental Health First Aider qualification (MHFA England).

In addition to this, I have also recently attended Coping with Anxiety and Feel Good Families courses and have had training on Positive Play.

I believe strongly that mental health and well-being are very important to our, and your, children and if they are having any difficulties with this, then it can have a huge impact on their ability to focus on anything else. Therefore, I am always available and approachable for you and your child to speak to or give advice on any issues/difficulties that you may have. 

How do we promote positive mental health at Holgate? 

At our school, we aim to promote positive mental health for every member of our staff and for every child. We pursue this aim using both universal, whole school approaches and specialised, targeted approaches aimed at vulnerable pupils and support for staff.

In addition to promoting positive mental health, we aim to recognise and respond to mental ill-health. In an average classroom, three children will be suffering from a diagnosable mental health issue. By developing and implementing practical, relevant and effective mental health policies and procedures we can promote a safe and stable environment for pupils affected both directly, and indirectly by mental ill-health.

Staff are trained in delivering specific interventions with children. Teaching Assistants are trained in interventions including ELSA, Lego Therapy, Talk & Draw, Emotional toolkit, anger management resources including the Incredible 5 point scale and de-escalation strategies from Coping with Risky Behaviours (CRB) training, Queen Bees and Wannabees intervention and Positive Play. These are delivered with either individuals or groups of children.

The skills, knowledge and understanding needed by our pupils to keep themselves and others physically and mentally healthy and safe are included as part of our developmental PSHE curriculum. This also links to our whole school values and activities such as Talking Points. This approach helps to teach children about life skills including how to manage their own emotions so that they are skilled in articulating how they feel in situations.

We run a weekly Well-Being café where children can come and engage in activities to promote positive health and well-being. These sessions are run by our Well-being champions alongside Mrs Hicklin and other supporting adults:

All classes practise Take Five practices which focus on grounding and resilience.

At Holgate Primary we offer a range of support for our families – some of the support is accessed in school and other services are accessed through a referral system. Please ask to speak to a member of the Inclusion Team for any advice.

The Inclusion Team are:

Mrs Harvey – Executive Inclusion Leader                                Miss Baker - SENCO

Useful Weblinks, Apps and Publications

General Apps for Support

  • Dragon in the Attic
  • For Me - Created by Childline
  • Moodometer
  • SuperBetter

Depression Support 

Useful Publications

  • SAD by Michael Rosen - a picture book suitable for Age 7+
  • My Name is Zac - An e-book focusing on bereavement, suitable for Age 8+ 

Useful Apps

Anxiety Support

Useful Publications

  • Touch and Go Joe - short story about OCD suitable for Age 10+

Useful Apps

  • SAM