Wellbeing

At Bevington Primary School, we take children’s emotional wellbeing and mental health very seriously and offer and range of programmes and resources to support children and families.

Please see details of some of the strategies we use below.

Based firmly in neuroscience, MindUP gives children the knowledge and tools they need to manage stress, regulate emotions and face the challenges of the 21st century with optimism, resilience and compassion. Taught alongside our PSHE curriculum, children learn about specific parts of the brain and their functions as well as mindful awareness, optimism and showing gratitude.

Each class has a designated ‘MindUp Zone’ which is equipped with calming, multisensory resources. Children can take themselves to these areas for moments of calming time during the day.

Throughout the day, we have regularly scheduled Brain Breaks in all classes throughout the school. Brain Breaks help children with focus, attention and regulating emotions.

Practiced three times per day, this focused breathing practice gives children a tool to help them to regulate their stress and emotions through regulating their physiology, and activating the attentional regions of the brain.

Controlled, focused breathing is an exercise in mindful awareness. When practiced regularly it allows children to:

• Think more clearly
• Act in a reflective manner
• Better regulate their emotions
• Reduce their stress
• Make better decisions

For more information on MindUp and Brain Breaks, visit https://mindup.org/mindup-for-parents/

We prioritise the well-being of our children as we understand that this is an aspect that can greatly impact a pupil’s attention, focus and desire to learn within the classroom. As such, we use the Zones of Regulation within our PSHE curriculum. The four zones are displayed in each classroom by the MindUp areas and are explained to the pupils through PSHE lessons and referenced during conversations. Our aim is to encourage our pupils to take notice of the emotion that they are feeling and be prepared with strategies to regulate themselves. Each term, pupils are taught a calming breathing technique which will empower them with strategies to recognise and manage their feelings and emotions.

Zones of Regulation supports our pupils with the following:

• Recognise when they are in each of the zones and learn how to stay or change their zone.
• Increase their emotional vocabulary so that they are able to explain how they are feeling.
• Understand when others are in other zones and develop their sense of empathy.
• Develop an insight into what might make them move into another zone.
• Identify that emotions or sensory experiences, such as a lack of sleep or hunger and their environment, might influence the zone that they are in.
• Develop problem-solving skills and resilience.
• Have a range of calming techniques that support them and form their own emotional ‘toolkit’.

The school’s Education Mental Health Practitioner, Roxana Trefas, is available to support parents of children who may experience difficulties with their emotions, behaviour and routines.

For more information, please speak to Mr Smith.

At Bevington, selected children are able to receive art therapy to support their emotional wellbeing. Latimer Community Art Therapy (LCAT) provides a clinical Art Psychotherapy service for children, adolescents and adults in the community and schools in RBKC and other neighbouring boroughs following the tragedy at Grenfell.

West London Zone is a targeted early intervention programme that provides additional opportunities and support to children according to their individual needs.

Our West London Zone Link Worker is Idil Hussein and she is based in the school daily. The Link Worker supports a cohort of children for a period of at least two years. Children are selected by the school, informed by WLZ’s data analysis of school data on attainment levels and attendance. Our aim is that the children end the programme ‘on-track’ to meet their and the school’s expectations in wellbeing and academic attainment.

Some of our Teaching Assistants are qualified Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA). They are specially trained to plan and deliver individualised support programmes to meet the emotional needs of targeted children within the school. It recognises that children learn better and are happier in school if their emotional needs are also addressed.

We also provide:

• All staff have received training in Attachment and Emotional Regulation, delivered by Educational Psychologists
• A Positive Behaviour Policy which puts children’s emotional needs at the heart of our practice