MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Developing a lifelong love of physical activity
We are very proud of how the Clavering PESSPA Programme is increasingly positively contributing to our pupils' mental health and wellbeing, as can be seen in our role as a Youth Sport Trust (YST) Lead Health and Wellbeing School and through Clavering being selected as one of the founding members of the 'Well Schools' movement. Our PESSPA Programme ‘provides an important contribution to pupils’ mental and physical wellbeing. It instils in pupils the importance of staying fit and healthy and the benefits of being active.’ (Ofsted)
Clearly, we live in a time where concerns about escalating mental health issues are at the forefront of thinking in education and we appreciate that our school plays a dual role in the mental health of our school population:
- prevention through creating a positive environment for physical activity and wellbeing; and
- identification, through having robust referral pathways.
We understand and appreciate that relationships and learning environments are often different within a successful PESSPA Programme and the various aspects of our PESSPA Programme are uniquely placed to make a positive contribution to our pupils' mental health and wellbeing.
Our PESSPA Programme Director and PESSPA-specialist members of staff have all completed Place2Be's Mental Health Champions training and we continue to benefit from specialist training and resources through:
1. our role as a YST Lead Health and Wellbeing School
2. our involvement as one of the founding members of the ‘Well Schools’ movement, powered by the YST and BUPA Foundation
3. continuing to source and participate in high-quality mental health and wellbeing training, including training that is specifically designed for staff working in the areas of Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity
One of the three main aims of the Clavering PESSPA Programme is to ensure that every Clavering pupil is ‘committed to maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle’ and by ‘health’ we are referring to emotional and mental health, as well as physical health.
We believe that our PESSPA activities are an important tool for our children and staff members to use for their mental and emotional wellbeing, as well as their physical health. As our partner in the ‘Well Schools’ movement, Dr Radha Modgil*, explains, PESSPA ‘connects us and builds confidence; teamwork; skills; self-esteem and a sense of goalsetting; achievement; and motivation. All of these make us emotionally and mentally healthy.’ Like Dr Radha, we want every Clavering pupil to experience the benefits that our PESSPA Programme can bring and ‘to recognise and be empowered to use it throughout their lives, to help them in easy times but also in challenging times.’
* Dr Radha is a practising NHS GP who is also the medical expert for BBC Radio 1’s daytime show, Life Hacks and the co-presenter of their weekly Life Hacks Podcast. She was the presenter of the CBeebies show Feeling Better, highlighting the importance of talking about emotions for young children and contributes to online projects including BBC Bitesize, BBC Teach, BBC Own It, BBC Advice Pages and BBC Learning.