Mental Health and Wellbeing at De Havilland

 

At De Havilland we follow a whole school nurturing and therapeutic thinking approach. We use the principles of Protective Behaviours as the foundations in all we do. All children are supported in recognising their Early Warning Signs (Uh-Oh feelings) and are taught strategies to self- self- manage and regulate these feelings. Each class has a self-regulation station with self supporting resources and a comfort zone thermometer, to support the children in talking about how they are feeling in different situations. The adults continuously model discussions about their feelings to the children, provide reasoning for the decisions they are making and the strategies they are using. We use ‘what if’ scenarios to encourage discussion around scenarios before they happen and to pre-empt situations the children may find tricky. The children are encouraged to recognise their feelings in all situations to enable them to understand what their bodies are telling them and to recognise when they are feeling safe or unsafe. For some children they need a little more support with this, they may take part in a group intervention or 1:1 sessions.

Through our Building Futures Curriculum, we encourage Social, Emotional and Mental Health development through all aspects of learning. We support our children in becoming confident in themselves giving them the skills, attitudes, opportunities and confidence to thrive socially, emotionally and academically in the evolving world we live in. We also acknowledge that in order for children to learn and achieve their full potential they need to understand themselves as a learner and how they learn best. Our curriculum therefore supports the children in developing their learning behaviours across all areas of learning.