Welfare and wellbeing of pupils
Children’s mental health and well-being is our priority at St Joseph’s. If you have any concerns about your child’s behaviour or mood, please contact school for help, advice and guidance.
Help at School
On site, Mrs Clements is our Learning Mentor. As a Learning Mentor, her key role is to champion the needs of the children who may be facing barriers to effective learning, both inside and outside the school. Working with pupils, teachers, parents, carers, families, schools and other agencies, helping to construct a flexible and responsive support network.
Our aims include:
- identifying particular difficulties and seeking solutions;
- setting realistic targets in order to encourage pupils to re-engage in effective learning;
- raising achievements;
- raising aspirations.
Areas within school that we particularly focus on include:
- self esteem and confidence building
- social skills
- study skills
- motivation
- attendance
- punctuality
As a Learning Mentor, she negotiates and plans a support programme with the pupil and goes on to develop a one-to-one mentoring relationship aimed at sharing information and helping them to achieve their targets. Personal / social skills and positive attitudes to learning are sometimes further developed by group work.
Undertaking activities to support the development of a healthy school and community environment; some of these activities are:
- 1:1 mentoring and group work
- team building
- nurture groups
- Social Speaking
- supporting pupils through transition.
The value of positive and active involvement by parents cannot be overstated. Talk to your child about their targets and general progress and please do contact school if you have any questions. In most cases, the staff in school will identify pupils who need support, but, if you as a parent/carer have concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
If you are worried or concerned about a child or young person mental health and wellbeing please follow the links below for more information, that can be very helpful.
If you are more worried and concerned then you can ring Social Care Direct on 0345 850 3503 or by contacting your local GP.
Please find useful links below for more information about Mental Health and Well-Being.
The May 2022 Mental Health awareness week focuses on loneliness.
‘On My Mind’ Boxes
We have ‘on my mind’ boxes to support our children. Children can write their worries or concerns down and post it into the on my mind box.
Our mental health first aider then checks these daily and provides additional support to our children where needed as well as informing the DSL team.
This strategy provides our children with another way of communicating their worries and concerns with us.
We offer Catholic care support with Emma Horsefield (Social worker) to children, parents and staff.
Catholic Care is an excellent service. We have a weekly visit from Catholic Care, who has a wealth of experience working with children from all backgrounds. Catholic Care offers support for children and young people who may be vulnerable for a range of reasons, and can help children to build resilience, nurture emotional development, address personal and social issues, and help children develop new attitudes, values and skills to help them through life.
Wakefield Support and Services
There are a range of services on offer across the Wakefield area to support children and young people.
Wakefield 0-19 Services
The Wakefield and Bradford 0-19 services can help parents, children and young people from antenatal care onwards. This includes help from midwifes, health visitors, and the school nursing team.
Better Lives, Healthy Futures is a hub of information about all different topics for children and young people aged 0-19, plus contact information for the healthcare professionals working in this service.
Star Bereavement
Bereavement can affect anyone. Star Bereavement is a specialist charity for young people aged up to 25 who are struggling to cope with grief and loss.
Based in Wakefield, Star Bereavement can offer support to young people and their family and friends in the form of 1-to-1 support, peer support, group support and text support.
WF-I-CAN
WF-I-CAN is a Wakefield support service for children and young people, and is divided into sections for under-13 and over-13 to ensure the topics are most appropriately phrased for your child.
Resources include tips on friendships and relationships, healthy eating, happiness and energy, and provides a place for children to access support directly online.
(Please note the above link directs to the under-13 area of the website.)
Wakefield CAMHS Resources
The Wakefield CAMHS Team (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) are the central mental health team for young people in Wakefield.
They have compiled a selection of resources that can be used by children, parents and carers, and education staff to help with issues such as:
- Anger
- Anxiety and health anxiety
- Phobias and OCD
- Grief
- Friendships and relationships
- Low mood
- School and education
- Mindfulness and unhelpful thoughts
Your child does not need to be under CAHMS in order to access these resources; they are available to all, free of charge.
Children First Hubs
Children First Hubs can help children and families in the local area with a range of issues. Support can be provided for families with at least two of the following:
- School attendance problems
- Have a child who needs help
- Domestic abuse
- Employment and debt problems
- Health problems
- Crime and Anti-social behaviour problems
Please visit the website to find your local hub, and how to contact them.
Returning to School
CAMHS 28-Day Mindfulness Challenge
This helpful resources from CAMHS is designed for families returning to full-time school life, and who would benefit from additional preparation ahead of the return.
With a different mindfulness activity every day for 28 days, you can use this resource at any time to help your child prepare for their return to school.
While the topic of the resource is based around returning after school closures, it also includes helpful activities which can be used at any time to help support your child’s mental health and well-being.
National Resources
These resources are from trusted national agencies and helplines, and can provide online, phone or in person support when required.
NSPCC – Child mental health
This helpful resource can be used by parents or professionals to understand how to recognise and respond to any mental health concerns you may have about your child. It is an in-depth guide, and provides a helpful overview of the signposts of mental ill-health in children.