Fonthill Primary Academy is really excited to announce that they have passed the Mental Health and Wellbeing badge of the Healthy Schools Awards in Bristol! They are the 18th school in the city to pass these new awards which included improving the teaching and learning about mental health and wellbeing for the whole school community (children, parents and staff)
They worked with the school safeguarding governor, Councillor Helen Godwin, to make fundamental improvements to mental health support in the school, parent workshops, and improvements to the school environment, including a new space for children to use if experiencing anxiety and as a safe space to talk to adults.
One of the improvements was ensuring that each class had a box in which children could leave a note if they were worried about something and would like to speak to a member of staff about it. The children named these ‘voice boxes.’ These have been used successfully, and one child was even able to make a disclosure through this means.
The Assistant Head, Claire Pringle, said “I have really noticed that children are more able to talk about their emotions as a direct result of the work done we have done, and are also much more understanding of each other.”
The Healthy Schools Team recognised that the school had a very wide range of Continuing Professional Development for staff to ensure that they are confident in recognising the signs of poor mental health and have strategies they can use to support children in improving this.
