Mental Health and Wellbeing
As well as supporting our children to have good physical health, we also take a robust approach to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of all of our children. We recognise that good mental health is crucial and know that many children, and their families, face challenges that can be a barrier to this. Many of our children have grown up during a global pandemic and a cost of living crisis, the impact of which we continue to face today. We have therefore adopted a range of strategies and interventions to support our children and their families with their mental health and wellbeing.
Trauma Informed School
Gleadless is a trauma-informed school. All of our staff have received training in the trauma-informed approach and these principles underline our approach to behaviour and relationships. Our Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion is a Lead Practitioner for both Trauma Informed Schools and Positive Regard, delivering regular in-house training for our staff and ensuring that our policy and practice reflect its key principles. This approach ensures that we meet children where they are, taking into account their early experiences and how these might impact on their development. We prioritise developing a team of staff who are emotionally available and who lead with empathy. We believe in restorative and reflective practice, showing unconditional positive regard to our children and their families.
Mental Health Support Team
For the last three years, we have worked closely with the NHS Mental Health Support Team (MHST). MHST practitioners work in our school on a weekly basis, delivering bespoke interventions to children who need more targeted support. This has helped a significant number of children to be better equipped to manage their mental health difficulties, giving them a safe space to talk and enabling them to develop strategies to cope with these difficulties.
Emotional Literacy Support
Since 2024, we have deployed a member of the staff team to train as an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA). She works with children across the school on a 1:1 basis, delivering an evidence-informed programme to support their emotional literacy. We are pleased to be able to continue to offer this intervention in the year 2025-26.
Outreach Support
Further to the above, we have built enhanced capacity in our staff team to offer outreach support to children who may be vulnerable to poor mental health. These include children who may have additional vulnerabilities, but who may not meet the threshold for external support. As we know external agencies are stretched and waiting times are long, this early help intervention helps to ensure that all of our children get the help that they need in a timely manner. From lego therapy, to sand therapy, to wishes and feelings, our staff provide a range of support that is responsive to children's needs and circumstances. Our inclusion team includes:
- Two Learning Mentors
- As Assistant Learning Mentor
- A Safeguarding Liaison Officer
- An Attendance and Family Liaison Officer