Wellbeing

All students at Waldegrave School have a universal provision for their wellbeing. This means that all students are trying to work towards being effective self-managers of their own wellbeing.

Supporting each other

Form tutors

Student support at Waldegrave School begins with the form tutors who provide the all-important daily contact with students. They monitor attendance, punctuality and behaviour and generally help to ensure that students are happy, safe and able to achieve. They also provide the first point of contact for parents.

Heads of Year

The next layer of support is provided by the Heads of Year. They oversee each of the year groups and work closely with form tutors and student support officers. Phase leaders focus on ensuring individual academic attainment through rigorous tracking of student behaviour, attendance and progress and the implementation of individualised study support programmes. Phase leaders also present weekly assemblies to provide wellbeing information and guidance.

Key Stage Hubs

The Key Stage Hubs are an additional layer of student wellbeing support. They are highly experienced in dealing with more complex matters of student health, safety, behaviour and wellbeing. They work closely with teachers, students, parents and multi-agency teams. Staff in the Hubs are trained in physical and mental health first aid.

Head of Key Stage

The Heads of Key Stage are senior leaders who support Heads of Year and the Key Stage Hubs.

Student Voice

We value the contribution that students make to the planning and development of our school and ensure that they are included in the decision making process. Each tutor group elects a representative to share ideas at Student Parliament meetings, to help us ensure that we are not complacent, that we continue to make progress, and that we put student ideas into practice. Additionally, we include students in the interview process when staff join our school, and we invite students to governor meetings to ensure they are able to express their opinions and ideas about their school. Students are also able to volunteer to become peer mentors, mental health ambassadors and prefects.

Parent Voice

As part of our universal provision for wellbeing, we ensure that we include parents and carers in this process.  Parents and carers are aware that they can seek advice and support for their children at any time. We ensure that we work in partnership and regularly hold parent information evenings, individual meetings with parents  and special workshops and events, to ensure parents feel part of the school community. We also send out regular information in our weekly bulletin.

Equipped for the future

Personal development and citizenship (PDC)

All students have lessons in personal development and citizenship, which equip them with strategies to lead safe and responsible lives. We empower our students to make informed decisions in order to safeguard their mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. Please click on the link alongside here for more information about our PDC programme.

Dropdown Days

Drop Down Days are a unique opportunity to provide enrichment opportunities to all students. On these days, lessons are suspended and students take part in a whole range of exciting activities from education visits  outside of school through to inspiring workshops on site.

Restorative approaches

Our restorative practices are well researched and, at all times, are informed by best attachment aware strategies. We aim to be an open and listening school where students are encouraged to reflect on their actions, the impact of them on others and how best to self regulate in the future.

 

Individualised support

Our targeted provision is available to all students who would benefit from extra intervention. If a student or parent feels that more individualised support is needed, they can request this via the student’s Head of Year or the inclusion team. We then work together to create a tailor made programme to support a student’s individual needs.

Student support

Student support  is provided by non-teaching members of staff who are available throughout the day to meet with students and parents to discuss any concerns. This team of highly experienced professionals includes a dedicated behaviour mentor, Mrs Amponsah, academic mentors Mrs Ruggles-Ross, Ms Ullah and Ms Bergin, and Mrs Williams, our Deputy Lead for Safeguarding and Wellbeing, who is trained in mental health and suicide first aid.

Mrs Williams  can signpost and make referrals to multi agencies including CAMHS and social services. She also provides one to one support and co-ordinates more specialist support through our on site counsellors, child and adult mental health services (CAMHS) and social services.

The extensive network of care, guidance and support at Waldegrave School is led at each key stage by a senior leader and the director of wellbeing. Together, they oversee the work carried out by members of the student support team to ensure that any barriers to student learning and wellbeing are removed.

School counsellors

We know that waiting times for counselling services can be difficult for students and we have responded to this by providing a school counselling service. Our counsellors work with students who are experiencing family difficulties, bereavement, or struggling with low self esteem, anxiety and/or low mood. The counsellors typically work with students for 8-10 weeks. Referrals are made by Heads of Year or the DDSL with parental consent.

Emotional wellbeing practitioner (EWP)

We are part of the NHS national mental health Trailblazer Programme. As part of this we are fortunate to have an emotional wellbeing practitioner to work with our students. Our EWP runs six-week programmes of guided self-help for students on topics such as anxiety, resilience and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). They also run workshops for parents and provide one to one sessions for students who need individualised support for their wellbeing. Referrals are made by Heads of Year or the DDSL with parental consent.

Art Therapist

Through the Trailblazer Programme, we also have access to a specialist Art Therapist for one day per week. Our Art Therapist supports students with slightly more complex needs than the EWP. Referrals are made by Heads of Year or the DDSL with parental consent

Anna Freud Centre Support

Students can be referred for online support through the Anna Freud Centre Schools and Colleges Support Service. This is typically a 6 week course of CBT-style therapeutic input for students experiencing anxiety and low mood. Referrals are made by Heads of Year or the DDSL with parental consent.

Bromley Y Mentoring

Bromley Y provides a one to one mentoring service for students experiencing low self-esteem or disengagement from learning. Referrals are made by Heads of Year or the DDSL with parental consent.

There may be times when the universal and targeted provision is not sufficient to meet the needs of individual students. In this instance, we help students and families to access specialised support from outside agencies.

Agencies to contact:

• Single Point of Access (SPA)
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
• Every Mind Matters
• Off The Record
• Relate
• Richmond Mind
• Kooth
• Anna Freud – Child in Mind
• iThrive AfC Emotional Health Service resource Hub
• Young Minds.