Pupil wellbeing is very important to us at St. Michael’s. It is at the heart of our school and is the responsibility of everyone: teachers, pupils, support staff, parents and the wider community.
In the same way we all have fluctuating physical health needs, we all have mental and emotional health needs too. We work very hard as a school to support our pupils to develop a positive attitude to mental health and to build resilience through tricky times.
We encourage pupils to have open conversations around their feelings, to learn how to express themselves and their emotions, to self-regulate when they are feeling upset or angry and to develop strategies to keep themselves emotionally and mentally healthy.
Some of our practices include: mindfulness exercises, yoga, running a daily mile, learning breathing techniques, understanding good nutrition and the value of music and the arts amongst others.
We teach and use the ‘Zones of Regulation’ framework throughout our school and encourage parents to use it at home as well. This is a self-regulation tool to help children consciously recognise and regulate their emotions. For more information on this framework and how we use it in school, please read the Guide for Parents below.