Headlines By James Saunders 25th June 2021
Wellbeing support for September 21
Honywood has always been fully committed to supporting the whole child and although we appreciate the need to strive for excellent exam results, we have always tried to balance this with the wellbeing of our learners, aspiring for happiness and success both during their time with us and beyond into their lives ahead. I am very proud of our staff and the caring nature of our school, where meaningful relationships and personalisation are embedded into every aspect of school life. As I have written previously to families, the last year has shown us the importance of these unique aspects of our school and I am confident that the ethos of Honywood will continue to support our learners moving forward into whatever challenges next year brings. We are highly conscious of the impact of mental health and wellbeing on a young person's learning. We recognise that all learners in our school deserve a universal offer to support their mental health and wellbeing and have been looking at ways in which we can increase this offer to reach and impact on a greater number of learners across all cohorts. From September, learners will have greater access to a range of interventions that will support them in a variety of ways, including a focus on their emotional and mental wellbeing. These interventions will be run by some of our own staff and also by the Education Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs) which I wrote about in headlines on 7th May. These pathway interventions are: Resilience and coping strategies Communication and social interaction Character Development
Although these pathways will initially be targeted at learners who we recognise would most benefit from them, they will also be available for other learners who would not necessarily have been identified in our previous support model. This is because they will be delivered through a rolling programme over the year, therefore enabling many more learners to take part, hence providing a more equitable universal offer that is open to all.
Our EMHPs have now become an integral part of the school and have already had a significant impact with supporting the emotional wellbeing and mental health of our learners. I have received great feedback regarding the quality and expertise that they are providing for our learners. To date they have been providing individual support for our learners but from September this will be further expanded to include targeted intervention for groups of learners under the pathway interventions. Another key component which forms the core of the wellbeing support network for our learners is our pastoral care structure.The first layer of support begins with the Learning Group Leaders (LGLs) who have a pivotal role in providing wellbeing support for the learners in their learning group. They are a key part of a learner's life at school, providing a regular and friendly face at the start and end of each school day. In talking to families visiting from primary school recently, the Learning Group Leader has been a clear example of how we retain the sense of belonging that primary school affords, by having a consistent point of contact and sense of familiarity and security for our young people. Our learners also have the support of their Cohort Leader (CL) who also adds an additional layer of support to their LGL. Furthermore, every adult in our school community has a duty to support the emotional wellbeing of our learners and will offer support and guidance whenever needed. I certainly find that every interaction I have with a learner usually involves a bit of support for their wellbeing. If learners feel they need some additional support around their emotional and mental wellbeing, I would encourage them in the first instance to speak with their LGL, their CL or any adult in the school who will be happy to support and/or sign post them to additional support available. Mrs Nichols from the Family Learning Team has been supporting our new Education Mental Health Practitioners to work with our learners and will be key to overseeing our increasing offer of support in September. I have included with these headlines the first Mental Health support Team newsletter - please take the time to read about the great work they are doing to support the mental health of young people.