High Ercall Primary School

Getting further help and support at High Ercall Primary School

Our Early Help offer

Supporting Mental Health and Wellbeing in our school

Key Staff: 

Mrs Sarah Roberts: Headteacher, DSL, SENDCo and Early Help Lead
Mrs Lauren D'Angelillo: Class Teacher and Mental Health Lead (Maternity leave 2024-25)

Mrs Gemma Lingham: Deputy Head and DSL
Mr Paul Meredith: Mental Health First Aider

Mrs Ricki Thiara - Our Safeguarding Governor

 

Can we help you?

 

At High Ercall Primary School, we want all our families to feel that they can approach us for help and support - in any way. We are here to listen!

At High Ercall Primary School, we have developed a community where children can enjoy a welcoming, secure, happy and healthy environment, where we hope that all members can develop self-confidence, self-esteem, self-motivation, independence, compassion, tolerance and understanding of others. We have a supportive and caring ethos model of respect and kindness, where everyone is valued.

At High Ercall Primary School, we have the view that ‘it could happen here’. Because of this, the suite of safeguarding policies; the expectations and training of our staff; the effective working relationships with other agencies; the communication with and knowledge of our families; the pastoral and broader care of our children, all contribute to our effective culture. Staff always act in the best interest of the children to protect them, identify who may need extra help and secure the best additional help and support for both the children and families.

Our Whole School Approach

  • Promoting our school values and encouraging a sense of belonging. 
  • Promoting pupil voice and opportunities to participate in decision-making
  • Celebrating academic and non-academic achievements.
  • Celebrating success through tweets, certificates, class assemblies, and sharing experiences.
  • Providing opportunities to develop a sense of worth through taking responsibility for themselves and others.
  • Access to appropriate support that meets their needs.
  • Being available for our families - in the office, on the playground, at the door, in the classroom

 

How can we help you?

We want to help - and often we can work with other professionals who can support you in different ways.

At High Ercall Primary School, we work with a range of agencies to support children and families. This includes but is not limited to: 

  • Strengthening Families within T&W – Early help 
  • Family Connect – T&W Early help 
  • Educational Psychology  
  • Learning Support 
  • BEAM 
  • Speech and Language Therapy 
  • School Nursing Team 
  • Attendance Support Officer 

We can share with you links to agencies who can help - even if we haven't quite got that expertise, we can find someone to help!

In school, we also offer a range of support and help:

  • Just a chat - come and talk to us to see if we can help, or drop us an email
  • Pastoral support with extra staff in all classes 
  • Lunchtime pastoral clubs and care 
  • Breakfast and after school care to support families 
  • Staff with a range of training including mental health first aiders, counselling, speech and language therapy and many more 
  • Attendance support through the early identification of any concerns and proactive role of the Business Manager and office team 
  • 1:1 meetings with parents and carers to signpost support 
  • Informal meetings with all staff available daily –staff are on the playground for support 
  • Parent support through online safety workshops or drop in sessions with the school nurse 

Please see our leaflet below for further information:

Early Help Leaflet

 

Other people who might be able to help you:

Telford Crisis support for food parcels and a baby and toddler bank.

PODS - for parent and carer advice (Parents and Carers opening doors)

The Wrekin Housing Group - for help with housing

SENDIASS - for help and support if your child has special educational needs

Home Start - helping families with children under 5 years old

 

For other agencies supporting mental health and wellbeing, see the table below.

 

Supporting Mental Health and Wellbeing

We are committed to developing our own professional development around mental health and wellbeing; this ensures we are up to date with the latest approaches. We currently attend Future in Mind workshops and have developed the Mental Health Lead role. We join in with a range of wellbeing awareness days and plan activities for the whole school community. For example, this year we have celebrated ‘Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week’ and ‘Anti-Bullying Day’. We know that everyone experiences life challenges than can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support. We believe that everyone has a key role to play in promoting positive mental health and wellbeing across the school.

We promote a mentally healthy environment through:

The 5Rs - The 5Rs are thread throughout the PSHE curriculum which covers the RSE statutory requirements.

  • Respect is taught through promoting positive friendships and relationships.
  • Resilience is taught through developing strategies towards positive thinking, future aspirations and teamwork skills.
  • Resourcefulness is taught through building self-esteem and confidence within the pupils.
  • Responsibility is taught through learning about careers, the economy, first aid and online safety.
  • Reflectiveness is encouraged through gratitude and offering opportunities to reflect.

 

The Wellbeing Warriors

The Wellbeing Warriors are a group of children from Years 4, 5 and 6 lead by Mrs D'Angelillo the Class 4 teacher and Mental Health Lead. The group believes that promoting positive mental health and wellbeing across the school is fundamental. We meet on a regular basis to ensure that any concerns are highlighted and that the mission statement that we have in place, is implemented and effective.
 


Promotion of positive mental wellbeing
 The school offers pupils many opportunities to do physical and relaxing activities to promote positive wellbeing:

  • Themed days such as our beach day
  • Fundraising days such as our reindeer run
  • Summer and Christmas Fairs
  • Residential visits including Arthog
  • Educational visits with valuable links to our curriculum
  • After school clubs focusing on sports, creativity and building skills in ICT
  • Play/lunchtime games

We offer different levels of support:

Universal Support- To meet the needs of all our pupils through our overall ethos and our wider curriculum. For instance, developing the 5Rs across the school.

Additional support- For those who may have short term needs and those who may have been made vulnerable by life experiences such as bereavement.

Targeted support- For pupils who need more differentiated support and resources or specific targeted interventions such as wellbeing groups. Staff across the school provide appropriate interventions for pupil’s mental health and wellbeing through lego therapy, social skills groups and 1:1 wellbeing support.

Parents and Carers - Parents or carers should approach their child/children’s class teacher if they have any mental health concerns. This will be shared with the Mental Health Leader for assessment. In addition to offering universal support within school, we may also discuss with you additional support mechanisms available to you.

 

Mental Health Concern for Your Child
The school values the support of parents by working in partnership with them to support their child. If parents have a mental health concern about their child they are most welcome to discuss this with Mrs Sarah Roberts, Headteacher and Miss Fletcher, Mental Health Lead.

Mental Health Concern for Yourself
If parents have a mental health concern about themselves they are most welcome to discuss this with any of the staff mentioned above who can signpost you to any support agencies.

 

Signposting Information 

Below, we have sign-posted information and guidance about the issues most commonly seen in school-aged children. The links will take you through to the most relevant page of the listed website. Some pages are aimed primarily at parents, but they are listed here because we think they are useful for students and school staff too.

Family Support

 

Family Connect

Impartial advice, information, guidance and support on a full range of children's services available across the borough including childcare, activities, school admissions and finance.

https://www.familyconnecttelford.co.uk  

Strengthening Families

The most useful children and family support is that which helps families to stabilise and improve their own situation through primary prevention approaches at the earliest time. Strengthening Families provide local services for families with children aged 0-19 through children and family centres, in a planned approach to ensure resources are targeted where they are most effective.

https://www.telfordsend.org.uk/info/1/home/13/strengthening_families

Mental Health and Wellbeing

 

Bee U

Bee U is the emotional health and wellbeing service for people, up to the age of 25, living in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin. It is designed to help you: Cope, Get help, Get more help or Manage in a time of crisis.

https://camhs.mpft.nhs.uk/beeu  

Beam

BEAM is run by The Children’s Society, a national charity that works with the most vulnerable children and young people in Britain today.

https://www.telford.gov.uk/downloads/download/3340/the_children_s_society_-_beam 

Kooth

Your online mental wellbeing community - Free, safe and anonymous support.

https://www.kooth.com/

Mind

Mind provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. They campaign improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding.

https://www.mind.org.uk/

Beat

Beat provides Helplines for adults and young people offering support and information about eating disorders. These Helplines are free to call from all phones.

https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/

Samaritans

Every day, Samaritans volunteers respond to around 10,000 calls for help. We’re here, day or night, for anyone who’s struggling to cope, who needs someone to listen without judgement or pressure. Samaritans is not only for the moment of crisis, we’re taking action to prevent the crisis.

https://www.samaritans.org/

NSPCC

We're the UK's leading children’s charity. We’ve been looking out for children for over 130 years.

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/

Childline - Calm Zone

There are lots of ways to feel calmer. It's about finding what works for you. Try some of our breathing exercises, activities, games and videos to help let go of stress.

https://www.childline.org.uk/toolbox/calm-zone/

MindEd

MindEd is a free learning resource about the mental health of children, young people and older adults.

https://mindedforfamilies.org.uk/

Bereavement

 

Hope Again

Hope Again is the youth website of Cruse Bereavement Care. It is a safe place where you can learn from other young people, how to cope with grief, and feel less alone.

https://www.hopeagain.org.uk/ 

PRISM

Prism was set up to support people in Telford and Wrekin and surrounding areas access bereavement support. PRISM Community Support Services offers adults, children and young people (aged 5 – 18 years) the opportunity to process their grief by providing a safe, quiet space to cry, talk openly or to just sit and be with someone who can empathise with them.

https://prismcommunityservices.org.uk/about/

Child Bereavement UK

Children and young people grieve just as much as adults but they show it in different ways. They learn how to grieve by copying the responses of the adults around them, and rely on adults to provide them with the support they need in their grief

https://www.childbereavementuk.org/supporting-bereaved-children-and-young-people

Winston’s Wish

Winston's Wish support children and young people after the death of a parent or sibling.

https://www.winstonswish.org/