Wellbeing Provision
Here at John Grant the wellbeing of both our pupils and staff is at the heart of providing a safe and nurturing environment in which our pupils and staff thrive.
We have an experienced and trained Emotional Wellbeing Practitioner, Jess, working to support pupils with their emotional well-being in the form of 1:1 sessions and short-term group work. She also runs Forest Schools with another teacher, Mike, for all our pupils to access. A Parent Support Advisor, Jo, who supports parents and helps develop their confidence and skills in parenting, when faced with various challenges. She also works with many agencies such as housing, early help and food banks, towards ensuring a secure
home for our pupils. In addition, there are six fully trained Youth Mental Health First Aiders available across the school.
“Nelson” our Pet Therapy Dog visits weekly, to support pupils in developing confidence and communication skills. Recently a group of Key Stage 4 pupils have trained as Wellbeing Ambassadors to provide peer wellbeing support in the form of weekly Art/Talking activities with each class in rotation. There are now two “talking rooms” and another planned for our new cube build, in which pupils and staff have the opportunity to talk through their thoughts/concerns with somebody.
One of our talking rooms
We continue to provide a full calendar of “fun” whole school events, such as John Grant’s Got Talent or ECO Celebration Day and always listen to our pupils, as their wishes and feelings, through regular school council meetings.
For staff, we have half-termly peer supervision for teachers,(annually for co-educators) weekly well-being challenges, social events, weekly staff yoga, Adult Mental Health First Aiders available to support, an employee of the month and an “open door” approach by SLT for one member of the team to always be available to listen.
These are just a few of the provisions we run within the school, with the most important being a staff team both within each class and around the school who “care” and build relationships with our pupils of trust and understanding, enabling an environment in which our pupils are able to communicate their feelings and receive appropriate support. This has been further assisted by the introduction of “Zones of Regulation “across the whole school, a scheme enabling pupils to think and communicate how they are feeling within four coloured zones.
So to summarize we strive to ensure that both our pupils and staff feel valued as individuals and very much part of the John Grant Community.
Our vision statement is
