"Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realise their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. It is an integral component of health and well-being that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in. Mental health is a basic human right. And it is crucial to personal, community and socio-economic development.

World Health Organisation, 2022

At Fairfield Road we aim to promote good mental health and wellbeing for our whole community: students, staff, parents and carers.

We aim to develop protective factors by being a community in which all:

• are respected 
• have a sense of belonging and feel safe
• are able to talk openly with trusted adults
• see good mental health as something to be valued and nurtured

We want all members of our community to:

• feel confident in themselves
• be able to express a range of emotions appropriately
• be able to make and maintain positive relationships with others
• cope with the challenges of everyday life
• manage times of stress and deal with change
• thrive and achieve

We aim to achieve this through:

• our PSHE curriculum 
• awareness raising (wellbeing assemblies, wellbeing weeks, tips for good mental health)
• listening to our students 
• gaining insights via student voice
• working in partnership with parents/carers where there are concerns about mental health 
• signposting sources of external help and advice
• making referrals and working with external agencies to provide additional support to those who need it
• recognising the importance of staff mental health and wellbeing. 
• modelling healthy attitudes and habits 

At Fairfield Road we believe we have an important role to play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our children. Through our tailored curriculum we aim to develop physiologically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually mentally healthy children. Through teaching our PSHE sessions and relationships education sessions, we provide children with the skills, coping strategies and resilience to prevent poor mental health.

We were awarded the AcSEED Award in September 2020 and recently received a re-accreditation for 2023. The AcSEED Award is a quality assurance mark presented to schools that have made a substantial effort to support the mental health of their students and staff. It encourages and rewards the provision of high quality emotional wellbeing services, the broad provision of information right through to appropriately targeted intervention. Based on the best practices, the scheme defines a set of standard criteria that all schools must meet to receive the award.

In EYFS and Key Stage 1 much of our work is based on understanding feelings to ensure children feel confident enough to speak about their emotions. In Key Stage 2 we focus on keeping our bodies safe and healthy, how our body and emotions will change as we get older and the range and intensity of all types of feelings.

Links to useful websites and services in the area

Tameside Oldham and Glossop MIND have teamed up with 42nd street to introduce Tameside and Glossop community mental and emotional wellbeing offer, providing a range of support, information, guidance and training to young people aged 8-18 years old. Delivered via local community bases located in Ashton, Hyde, Stalybride and Denton, services offered are 1:1 support, wellbeing sessions, therapeutic courses, counselling, training and parental support.

YoungMinds is a charity committed to improving emotional well-being and mental health. Click here to find out more.

Click here to find out about the Be Well Tameside service to support with a range of health and wellbeing benefits

Click here to find out about the NSPCC Pants Rule to keep your child safe.

Click here for links to Childline offering free support for children on a wide variety of issues.

Click here for information on mindfulness and relaxation techniques from Relax Kids.

Click here to find more information on the five ways to wellbeing which aims to promote positive wellbeing.

Click here to find information on how to help your child with anxiety.

Kooth is a provider of online mental health services for children aged 10-18 and has been shared with all of our Year 5 and Year 6 pupils.

The platform is free, safe and anonymous, it is an online counselling and emotional well-being platform for children and young people, accessible through mobile, tablet and desktop and free at the point of use. On Kooth, you can chat to friendly counsellors via the web, read articles from young people that you will be able to relate to, get support from the online Kooth community via telephone, email and online.

On Kooth you can:

• Chat to the counsellors who are on the Kooth platform
• Read articles which are written by young people who may be your peers
• On the Kooth web platform, you will essentially be on a community forum where you can interact with other people who are logged in on the Kooth community. These may be different people who are battling their own mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, loneliness etc.

Please find below a letter from Kooth about wellbeing support for students and families during the holiday period.

This guide features what children do online, the threat of online strangers and how to ensure a healthy balance between internet use, your children's online digital security and more on online safety to mention.

Kooth have some fabulous resources for parents and carers to help with children's SATS anxieties and worries which can be found here

When things we see, hear, and read about on the news are worrying or upsetting, it can leave us feeling helpless and out of control. It can also connect us with tough feelings, such as anger, sadness, frustration, and confusion - especially when it’s hard to make sense of what is going on. We might also want to do something to help but aren’t quite sure what to
do or where to start. If that feels familiar, please click below.

Wellbeing Wallet

The wellbeing wallet is a resource created by Tameside that brings together the arts and wellbeing by partaking in practical activities. There is lots of evidence to suggest creativity helps emotional and mental health.

Our School Wellbeing Dog

There is a new kind of pawsome pal in town, the ‘school well-being dog - Maddy!’ 

Bringing a pet into school is said to increase a sense of well-being and safety for students, which in turn can have a positive effect on their mental health. Students can relate to animals and they have a soothing presence within the school environment. Mental health is an issue that needs to be addressed in schools and the emotional well-being of students needs to be developed, so that they can cope in later life.

Wellbeing dogs are a low-cost effective solution to assisting young people with feeling safe within the school and improving their mental health. Students can empathise with animals in a way that they can’t always with other humans and this develops their emotional well-being. Having a dog in school can be an uplifting experience and assist individuals in feeling more relaxed, confident and ability to cope with challenging situations.

Tameside's Mental Health Poster

Child family guide to getting advice and getting help for emotional wellbeing.

TESCO  STRONGER STARTS GRANT FOR FOREST AREA

We have been awarded £1500 to enhance our Forest area with a particular focus on mental health. We understand the importance of getting outside more often and know the benefits this has. We will use our funds to ensure we have enough seating outside for a class to sit and learn. We will purchase a tree swing, den building posts and den building materials (pupil voice) allowing the children to interact with nature in a physical way. We will also buy some water proof clothing so children can learn outside whatever the weather. We will also use some funding to tidy the environment e.g. rotten wood on planters and decking area/flowers etc.

We are so excited to revamp our Forest and clean up the natural environment. Receiving this funding will most certainly enhance learning opportunities about environment and conservation and improve children's physical health and mental wellbeing from spending more time outdoors.

Sign up to EE Phone Smart to help prepare your child to be safe and kind online.

PhoneSmart is a free digital course that gives your child all the knowledge they need to be safe and kind online, as well as giving them the skills to be phone ready.

Please click here for information on how to sign up.