Wellbeing at Highbury

Happy children learn. A good state of wellbeing is therefore an essential ingredient in academic success.

Mrs McConnell Smith is our trained and designated Senior Mental Health Lead.  She can be contacted on: senco@whitehill.herts.sch.uk or by calling or emailing the school office.

This page of our website is used to provide useful information about how we support wellbeing at Highbury, including resources and links on wellbeing which parents might find helpful at home.  

All pupils in our school community:

Pupils at both Highbury and Whitehill are introduced to and encouraged to use the Zones of Regulation to help them recognise and respond appropriately and sensitively to their own feelings. 

This is complemented and supported by the strategies from the “Feel-good Fingers” (Or “5 ways to Wellbeing” at Whitehill)

The ability to recognise how we are feeling and what, if anything, we could or should do to respond to this is an important step for all of us in staying mentally healthy.

Do ask your children to tell you about the Zones of Regulation and how they are using this in their class. The poster for you to use at home is attached below. Remember, there are no bad or wrong feelings, but there can be choices to make about how we respond to them.

Each class has one or two “Feel-good Friends” who help to support other pupils and spot areas for wellbeing development through the year. You can spot them by their rainbow lanyards!

The Zones of Regulation is a useful accessible approach for parents at home too, which you might like to try.

Children and adults at Highburyl are encouraged to spot and reward kindness.  It is a core value for us at school and rewarded with our bespoke “Caught Being Kind” stickers.  We celebrate this show of kindness and thoughtful behaviour on a Friday at our Gold Book Assembly.

Sometimes a few pupils will need more bespoke support:

As part of our core graduated response to supporting pupils who may be experiencing social and/or emotional challenges, Highbury offers a few mentoring sessions to some pupils across the week with trained adults.  This may take the form of ELSA sessions with Mrs Watson, or some Drawing and Talking time with the class support adult.

Any child in our school could need this type of support for any reason, over their time at Whitehill, from the loss of a loved one or a dip in self-esteem, to friendship issues.  Children are encouraged to see this time as a positive step in helping themselves to move forward happily and independently.

These sessions are not to be confused with counselling or therapy and are more of a light touch, informal, individualised space where the child can feel heard and have their feelings validated.

Sessions are allocated according to need and availability.  Pupils themselves sometimes ask to speak to someone; parents sometimes request this option following a particular event or worry or teachers might spot a need that requires some short-term emotional support.

ELSA sessions are approximately 30 minutes long, once a week and children work in roughly 6 week blocks before reviewing. 

Drawing and Talking sessions are roughly 20 minutes long in 6 week blocks.

Some children may then need another block of support and a very few may need a referral on to other agencies such as Step 2, in consultation with parents. Most, however, will be happy to stop and use other established mechanisms in school or home to support their feelings of well-being, such as those mentioned above.

What more could I do as a parent?

Parents can themselves discuss any concerns about emotional or physical health to the school nursing team and refer their own child to this service.

Call their duty line number 0300 123 7572 for more information.

Or see the website:

School Nursing Team

In addition, wellbeing practitioners run regular parent sessions around a variety of needs.

Wellbeing Practitioners

Parent Support

Whitehill and Highbury are fortunate to have a member of the MHST (Mental Health Support Team) working with us on a Friday.

In the primary setting their role is mainly centered around supporting parents to strengthen home practice or working with groups in school.

Here are the slides from our last EMHP hosted parent workshop on Understanding Your Child’s Thoughts, Emotions and Behaviours

Our EMHP is Lyndsay Walker.

Latest DSPL1 Information
DSPL (Delivering Special Provision Locally) weekly newsletter can be found here.

Wellbeing Toolkit
For a one-stop-shop of useful wellbeing links click here. The information is collated by My Oasis.