Ewyas Harold Primary School have decided to tackle mental wellbeing head on with a unique collaboration between themselves and Herefordshire Mind. Sadly the consequences of poor mental wellbeing of young people has never been more prevalent in the news and social media. Ewyas Harold Primary School feels that the time is now right to deal with these issues. From many studies, it is clearly evident that the earlier mental health issues are addressed in a child’s lifetime, the easier they are to deal with for that child and the more impact the correct support can have.
David Harding, Support & Development Manager at Herefordshire Mind says “I am delighted to be working with Ewyas Harold Primary School. We will be supporting the school community to give greater priority to children’s happiness and mental health, which also helps to enhance their wider academic learning, their relationships and their resilience.”
This is an exciting time for the school and the positive outcomes of this collaboration for both its’ children and the school community are eagerly awaited.
Laura Wallace, Head of School at Ewyas Harold Primary, comments as follows:
“We believe the focus on children and young people’s wellbeing and mental health is long overdue. This is the reasoning behind running our first ever ‘Mental Wellbeing Week’ starting on the 22nd of October. We have been given the incredible opportunity of working with David Harding of Herefordshire Mind. This has enabled us to not only involve our pupils with wellbeing and mental health training and provision, but also our staff, parents and the wider community.
We strongly believe that a teaching profession that feels sufficiently trained to speak about mental health and approaches issues confidently, would have a huge impact and lead to an open and inclusive culture that would benefit pupils, teachers and parent, thus reducing the stigma about discussing mental health. A focus on promoting wellbeing, building resilience and good mental health will improve outcomes for children and young people, and the nation as a whole, now and in the future.
Evidence shows that across the UK, mental health issues in children are increasing, while child wellbeing is deteriorating. With such a huge amount of time spent in the classroom, schools provide an ideal environment for promoting good emotional wellbeing and identifying early behaviour changes and signs of mental distress. The social and emotional skills, knowledge and behaviours that young people learn in the classroom can help them to build resilience and set the pattern for how they will manage their mental health throughout their lives.”
Ewyas Harold Primary School are leading the way and we wish them every success with their Wellbeing Week. Should you like to find out more about the above, the school would be very happy for you to make contact with them. All initial enquiries please to admin@ewyas-
