Children's Mental Health Week: 6th - 12th February 2023

The theme for Children’s Mental Health Week this year is ‘Let’s Connect’, focusing on how having healthy connections with friends, family, and members of the wider community plays a vitally important role in our mental wellbeing.

Let’s Connect is about making meaningful connections. Human beings thrive in communities, and this connection is vital for our wellbeing. When we have healthy connections – to family, friends and others – this can support our mental health and our sense of wellbeing. And when our need for rewarding social connections is not met, we can sometimes feel isolated and lonely – which can have a negative impact on our mental health. 

As parents and carers, you play an important role in your child’s mental health. Check out  the free resources for families linked below.

https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/families/

Parenting advice from child mental health experts can be found in the Place2Be website linked below

https://www.place2be.org.uk/our-services/parents-and-carers/

Family Moodbusters

Click the link to access moodbuster activities for all the family.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/moodboosters

​​​Sleep Awareness

😴

The importance of good sleep cannot be over estimated. Poor sleep affects both our mental and physical well-being, often leading to poor concentration, stress, worry and mood disorder.

Getting Ready to Sleep Well: Top Tips

• Limit how much TV you watch close to bedtime

• Avoid watching programmes or films that have upsetting or scary content close to bedtime

• Avoid sugary foods or drinks in the evening

• Leave mobile phones or other devices in another room, ideally downstairs if you live in a house

• Listen to or read a calming story (save the action and thrills for early evening!)

• Listen to some soothing music

• Cut down on caffeine, especially in the evening. Drinks such as cola as well as tea and coffee contain caffeine. Too much caffeine prevents deep sleep and can make falling asleep.

Trailblazer Programme | Mental Health Support Teams in Schools

We are delighted that our school has been given the opportunity to take part in a new, national programme to help make mental health support for children and young people more available when they need it.

We are one of 72 schools from Cheltenham, Gloucester and the Forest of Dean to work with the NHS in Gloucestershire to introduce Mental Health Support Teams into schools. 

We hope that these teams will provide valuable support to our pupils to help them with life’s ups and down, for example, with issues such as anxiety, friendship concerns, exam stress and challenging behaviour.

This may involve group work and/or individual, one-to-one support, either at school or elsewhere. Where appropriate, the Mental Health Support Team will also link up with the specialist mental health services in Gloucestershire. They will also support parents and teachers to help children and young people who are experiencing difficulties.

If you have any questions or concerns or would like to make a referral to the service, please contact Mr Manning or Mrs Broddle.

Please click the link below to find out more.

https://www.ghll.org.uk/mental-health/trailblazer-programme/