We take mental health very seriously at Sturton by Stow Primary School and are committed to providing support to children or families who are struggling for any reason.

We are linked with the Mental Health Support Team (MHST) provided by the Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Together, we can provide intervention for children with mild to moderate mental health difficulties.

The Mental Health Support Team can help with:

• anxiety and/or avoidance (e.g. specific phobias, separation anxiety)
• worry management and problem solving
• panic management
• mild obsessive-compulsive disorder and other rigid/ritualistic behaviour
• behavioural difficulties
• low mood/depression
• managing negative thoughts
• thoughts of self harm and support for alternative coping strategies for superficial self-harm
• low confidence and low self-esteem
• sleep difficulties through support of good sleep hygiene

If the school believes a child needs to be referred, we will always request consent from the child’s parent/carer prior to starting the referral process.

If you wish to discuss your child’s mental health, please speak to your child's class teacher or with Mrs Desforges who is the mental health lead in school. 

Further Support:

Below are some useful services you can access.

Useful apps and websites for children

Calm

www.calm.com

Headspace for kids

https://www.headspace.com/blog/2019/01/25/headspace-for-kids-meditations/

Kids skills

http://www.kidsskills.org/

We follow the NHS 5 Steps to Wellbeing in school and base our Feel Good Friday activities around these 5 areas.

1. Connect with other people

Good relationships are important for your mental wellbeing. They can:

• help you to build a sense of belonging and self-worth
• give you an opportunity to share positive experiences
• provide emotional support and allow you to support others

2. Be physically active

Being active is not only great for your physical health and fitness. Evidence also shows it can also improve your mental wellbeing by:

• raising your self-esteem
• helping you to set goals or challenges and achieve them
• causing chemical changes in your brain which can help to positively change your mood

3. Learn new skills

Research shows that learning new skills can also improve your mental wellbeing by:

• boosting self-confidence and raising self-esteem
• helping you to build a sense of purpose
• helping you to connect with others

Even if you feel like you do not have enough time, or you may not need to learn new things, there are lots of different ways to bring learning into your life.

4. Give to others

Research suggests that acts of giving and kindness can help improve your mental wellbeing by:

• creating positive feelings and a sense of reward
• giving you a feeling of purpose and self-worth
• helping you connect with other people

It could be small acts of kindness towards other people, or larger ones like volunteering in your local community.

5. Pay attention to the present moment (mindfulness)

Paying more attention to the present moment can improve your mental wellbeing. This includes your thoughts and feelings, your body and the world around you.

Some people call this awareness "mindfulness". Mindfulness can help you enjoy life more and understand yourself better. It can positively change the way you feel about life and how you approach challenges.

Read more about mindfulness, including steps you can take to be more mindful in your everyday life.

Other ideas to help improve wellbeing:

Physical activities:

• Cosmic Kids Yoga
• Bodycoach
• Just Dance

Art activities:

• Painting, sketching, drawing and clay
• Scrap book making
• Jewellery making
• Box modelling

Sensory and craft activities:

• Play dough
• Kinetic snad
• Water play
• Bubbles
• Slime making
• Papier mache craft
• Origami
• Cooking and baking

Gardening

• Potting and planting seeds
• Tidying, pruning, etc.
• Making bug houses or hedgehog houses
• Collecting leaves or flowers
• Nature hunt

Calming activities

• Yoga
• Listening to music
• Meditation
• Drawing things that make you happy
• Playing a musical instrument
• Reading
• Word searches and other puzzles