St Mary's C of E School Truro

St Mary's C of E School

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young. Be an example to all believers, in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith and your purity."1 Timothy 4:12

Personal Development

At St Mary's Primary School we firmly believe that
‘You're never too young to make a difference’
and so in line with this, we have developed
‘Personal Development’ (PD) to encompass:
 
  • The principles of PSHE
    • Relationships Education curriculum
    • PSHE through Jigsaw
    • additional wider safety
    • economic understanding
    • strong E-safety curriculum to support children's understanding of technology and media. 
 
  • Developing citizens of the future through our vision and values actively contributing to our community. 
  • A focus on developing children's character to facilitate them to be successful
  • A strong understanding of British Values in their daily lives
  • facilitating aspirations for children's future careers 
 
By enabling our children and young people to develop their own skills, knowledge and understanding of how to be who they are, understand the world they are growing up in and how to keep themselves safe in all areas of their world, we believe that we are giving each and every one of them the best chance for their lives ahead. Our curriculum has been designed with our children in mind and may vary in content to reflect the ever-changing world we live in.
 
Be sure to read our blog post showing how our Year 6 children achieved the St Mary's Top Ten Things To Do this year by clicking on our Personal Development Blog (below)

Mental Health and Wellbeing

At St. Mary's C of E School, we are committed to supporting the positive mental health and wellbeing of our whole community; children, staff, parents and carers.

Our ethos is supportive, caring and respectful. We understand how important positive mental health and wellbeing is to our lives. We recognise that children’s mental health is a vital factor in their overall wellbeing and how it can affect their learning and achievements. Our School encourages children to be open and we support all children to have their voice heard.

Mental Health Definition:

 

“Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.”

World Health Organisation, 2018

What supporting Positive Mental Health means to us:

  •         The child stays at the centre of every conversation.
  •         We prioritise those who need our help most, but we promote positive mental health with everyone.
  •         We embedded social, emotional and mental health awareness across the curriculum.
  •         Children and young people are taught skills to build resilience and manage everyday stressors.
  •         Staff wellbeing, resilience and mental health is a key focus.
  •         We have a trained Pastoral Team who lead on evidence-based practice for our interventions.

 

How we ensure best practice:

  •         Time for training and appropriate interventions (TIS, Forest School and Forest School Adventurers)
  •         Staff are well trained so that they feel equipped to fulfil their role and staff encouraged and supported to identify training needs and access training both internally and externally.
  •         Staff trained and adept at using MyConcern to report concerns
  •         Timely referrals for mental health support (CLEAR, CAMHS, Dreadnaughts, music therapy, Play therapy) made by SENCO
  •         Careful monitoring of the impact of interventions and curriculum
  •         Regular supervision in place with a choice of senior staff and for DDSL’s
  •         Occupational health services available for staff (including counselling where needed)
  •         Parents well informed about provision available in school and where to seek further advice if needed
  •         Children taught about where they can get help and advice.
  •         Strong PHSE and RSE curriculum (Jigsaw) to support children to make healthy lifestyle choices
  •         Staff read and understand section one of Keeping Young people Safe in Education.
  •         Staff know our behaviour, SEMH, attendance and safeguarding policies and protocols.
  •         The wider school community has an active voice about SEMH.
  •         We speak to each other with courtesy, respect and empathy.
 

We are starting on our journey to a whole school approach but have already made significant inroads to supporting all stakeholders;

  • School Mental Health Lead – Kim Rundle 
  • Pastoral lead – Sophie Vowles (SENCO)
  • TIS Practitioner – Leigh Pritchard
  • Forest School Teacher- Joanne Mitchell
  • All staff have benefitted from whole school TIS training and Emotion Coaching.

 

Children

  • In school, the school council feed information back to their peers and highlight any issues and concerns raised by their classmates. 
  • Visuals to support children in expressing their emotions and explaining 'What's wrong?'
  • Restorative approach to conflict resolution (Jigsaw Talk it! Solve it!)
  • Embedded Mental Health and Wellbeing within the PSHE curriculum
  • Celebrating Mental Health Week annually
  • Collective Worships have a planned focus of Mental Health and Well Being each half term.
  • Developed a forest school curriculum that offers children the chance to be in nature and learn outside.

 

 

British Values

The DfE have recently reinforced the need “to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.”

The Government set out its definition of British values in the 2011 Prevent Strategy, and these values have been reiterated this year. Please click here to access our PREVENT page

The curriculum at St Mary's Church of England Primary School is planned to ensure that the teaching and understanding of British Values is embedded across the curriculum.

 

Democracy

Democracy is very important across the school. Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council and Eco School committee. The pupils are elected by their peers onto the school council. Children at St Mary's know that there is always someone in school who they can listen and be heard, that their suggestions are valued. Children across the school have opportunities to take on leadership roles such as RE leaders, Sports Leaders and ICT Leaders to have their voices, opinions and skills be examples to the school.

 

The Rule of Law

The importance of Laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced throughout regular school days, as well as when dealing with behaviour and through collective worship. The school has six values that underpin the school vision. Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind laws, that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken. Visits from authorities such as the Police; Fire Service; Lifeguards etc. are regular parts of our school life.

 

Individual Liberty:

Within school, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for young pupils to make choices safety, through of provision of a safe environment and empowering education. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advise how to exercise these safely, for example through our E-Safety and PSHE lessons. Whether it be through choice of challenge, of how they record, of participation in our extra-curricular clubs and opportunities, pupils are given the freedom to make choices.

 

Mutual Respect

Part of our school ethos and behaviour policy has revolved around the school vision and values. Respect is very important. All staff around the school promote respect for others and this is reiterated through our classroom and learning rules, as well as our behaviour policy.

 

Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Beliefs

This is achieved through enhancing pupils understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society and by giving them opportunities to experience such diversity. Collective worship and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying have been followed and supported by learning in RE and PSHE. Members of different faiths or religions are encouraged to share their knowledge to enhance learning within classes and the school.