At Mont a l’Abbé School, we are committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of all our learners, parents, carers, staff and other stakeholders.
A whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing goes beyond teaching and learning and brings the entire school community together to tackle mental health challenges effectively and remove any stigmas. It involves all school stakeholders being involved with and committed to promoting positive mental health and wellbeing for pupils, staff, parents/carers, and the wider school community.
Wellbeing is all about our holistic health, including the physical and emotional. When we have good levels of wellbeing, we feel that life is in balance and that we can generally cope well. We feel motivated and engaged, we’re resilient and able to deal effectively with daily troubles, as well as ‘bounce back’ from life’s challenges.
A whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing has proven benefits for the whole school community, not just for mental health and wellbeing but also for attendance, self esteem, confidence, ability to progress and to achieve full potential.
The Government of Jersey have developed ‘The Eight Ways to Wellbeing’ to underpin the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing 2022-2025 Strategy. They include:
- feel nurtured, ensuring that children are loved and nurtured in a home that meets needs
- be active, taking part in physical activity of any kind
- be respected, taking opportunities to be heard and involved in decisions
- be responsible, taking an active role in the community, and in setting meaningful goals
- feel included, linking in with family, friends and neighbours across the community
- stay safe, ensuring children and young people are protected from neglect and harm
- be healthy, taking time to notice what you are thinking, feeling, eating and doing
- keep achieving, setting goals and learning something new outside of formal education
Mindfulness enables children to develop self-awareness in the present moment. As they become more grounded, children may notice or experience their emotions and feelings more meaningfully, which can at times be difficult for them to process and regulate.
At Mont al’Abbe we use The Zones of Regulation from Early Years Turtle class through to L’Etacq (Post-14) as a basis for teaching about our emotions.
The Zones of Regulation, developed by Leah M. Kuyper (2011) uses colour-coded resources to help children visually represent and label their emotions.
The main message of the Zones is that ‘it’s okay to be in the different zones e.g. feeling blue (tired) or red (angry), but what can you do to get back (regulate) into the green zone when you’re ready? (e.g. access sensory supports, have some quiet time, drink some water).
For further information about Mental Health and Wellbeing please read our school policy or speak to one of our team.
