Wellbeing
‘Our vision is that ... each person has the experience of being loved and valued as a sacred individual created by a loving God’ Loreto Vision and Values p.4
Students’ wellbeing is supported in a number of ways in school, from the structures that we have in place which includes a clear focus on the importance of community and belonging and a 1 hour lunch time to allow time for students attend clubs or to be with friends. At Loreto we promote the significant role of the form tutor and the importance of students being known as well as a focus on ‘right relationships’. Where necessary, we also have adults who can support students such as pastoral mentors, our lay chaplain and the school counsellor. All staff have received bespoke mental wellbeing training, and the Pastoral Team has had additional training in areas such as suicide prevention, eating disorders and anxiety.
We have also secured the support of Trafford Mental Health Support Team (MHST), more details below, which gives us access to two additional mental health colleagues.
Trafford Mental Health Support Team
We are very proud to have a Mental Health Working Party (MHWP) which comprises students and staff who meet to identify and plan strategies to support students to flourish at school and beyond. To date they have completed an audit of support, created and prioritised strategies and have been important in creating initiatives such as the introduction of 5-Minute Catch Up Time and poster campaigns. The MHWP creates a mental wellbeing newsletter each term that is shared with all students, please see copies below.
The MHWP is just one example of giving our students a voice. We seek student voice through other means such as our School Council, the Eco group and student surveys where we monitor students’ understanding of their own mental and physical health.
Parents' Wellbeing Evenings
To develop the relationship with our parents/carers we introduced Parents’ Wellbeing Evenings. These evenings have covered a range of topics and have utilised a variety of approaches such as presentations delivered by external speakers and staff-led workshops. Parents are regularly asked for feedback relating to these Evenings and this feedback has been used to inform future Well-being Evenings.
These evenings have been very well received and parents’ comments have included; “really impressive that Loreto is doing so much in regards to Wellbeing”, “ informative, thought provoking, reassuring and insightful” and “an enlightening evening allowing me to go home armed with information to help my daughter.”
Topics covered so far are;
Child-on-Child Abuse, Eating disorders, Grooming, Anxiety, PSHCE/RSE, Internet safety, andVaping
Our latest Parents' Wellbeing Evening included informative input from Early Break covering many questions that parents had about vaping. They have kindly allowed us to share the following resources that we hope you find useful.
Early-Break-Vaping-Parents-and-Carers
Other useful sources of support in times of challenge
Beat: The UK's Eating Disorder Charity
Papyrus: UK Suicide Prevention
Young Minds: Mental Health Charity
Mind: Anxiety and Panic Attacks
‘Health is of importance. Take care accordingly in yourself and others’ Mary Ward
