At White Cliffs Primary and Nursery School, we are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our pupils and staff.

Staff have additional training to support children with their mental health and wellbeing-

At White Cliffs Primary and Nursery School we are proud to say we are a Nurture UK school.

We know that everyone experiences challenges in our lives that can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support.

We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play.  

 Using the Nurture UK 6 Principles we:

• help children to understand their emotions and feelings better                             
• help children feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries
• help children socially to form and maintain relationships
• promote self esteem and ensure children know that they count
• encourage children to be confident 
• help children to develop emotional resilience and to manage setbacks 
• complete termly Wellbeing and Involvement screening to help us understand how we can support our children further
• assess using the SEMH tool - Boxall Profile 

Through our ethos and wider curriculum we aim to meet the needs of all our pupils. 

Extra support is available for those children who may have short term needs along with those who may have been made vulnerable by life experiences, such as bereavement from the school Counsellor or Play Therapist. 

Nuture UK

We follow the 6 Principles of Nurture UK to ensure that children feel safe at our school and to support them when they are feeling vulnerable.

What is nurture?

The concept of nurture highlights the importance of social environments – who you’re with, and not who you’re born to – and its significant influence on social emotional skills, wellbeing and behaviour. Children and young people who have a good start in life are shown to have significant advantages over those who have experienced missing or distorted early attachments. They tend to do better at school, attend regularly, form more meaningful friendships and are significantly less likely to offend or experience physical or mental health problems.

The nurturing approach offers a range of opportunities for children and young people to engage with missing early nurturing experiences, giving them the social and emotional skills to do well at school and with peers, develop their resilience and their capacity to deal more confidently with the trials and tribulations of life, for life.

The graduated approach to nurture

Our graduated approach to nurture ensures that every child in the school has the opportunity to flourish in their education. It ensures that every child has access to the support they need, when they need it. Whether they enter the education system with early childhood trauma, or experience it during their time in education, we work to measure and support the social, emotional and mental health of all children, so no child falls through the cracks.

Assessment and Tracking

At White Cliffs Primary and Nursery School we use different assessment tools to monitor and track your child’s mental health and wellbeing. One of the tools we use is the The Boxall Profile. 

More information about the Boxall Profile can be found here:

https://www.nurtureuk.org/supporting-you/the-boxall-profile/

Another tool we use is The Leuven Scales for Wellbeing and Involvement. Each term the adults within the classroom will observe and scale the children Wellbeing and Involvement levels. 

Ways to support and help mental health and well being:

On this page you will find information and links available you support you and your child:

Place2Be

Kent Resilience Hub

Live Well Kent

Mind

Kooth

Every Mind Matters

Children and Young People's Mental Health Service

KCC - Metal Health Support for children and young people

NSPCC

Childline