Good Shepherd Primary School

The wellbeing of your child is fundamental to life at Good Shepherd. All staff have a responsibility and are committed to ensuring each child is kept safe and is happy we ensure that we meet the needs of all pupils in our care.

At Good Shepherd, the wellbeing of all our pupils is our driving force and this goes beyond merely teaching key skills. We value the development of the child, building in them the resilience to face a challenging world with self-confidence and the belief that they are unique and valued. We build on our pupils’ natural inclination to learn so that each child will flourish and succeed.

Pastoral care within Good Shepherd is focused around wellbeing and emotional support, which contributes to our commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all our children, parents, staff and families.

To support this, we offer the following:

• Weekly whole class Pastoral sessions for every class

• 1:1 and small group sessions – children are able to self-refer or are referred via class teacher, or senior staff member.

• Lunch clubs - provide options for children who may struggle on the playground or want something different at lunch times. Children can have a choice of activity – table tennis, Lego, colouring and board games.

• After school clubs – providing all children an opportunity to try something new or build on an existing skill. Clubs on offer have been – football, basketball, art, film and much more

• Pupil Voice/School Council – supports the children in ensuring their voices are heard. We meet weekly and the children are given a question or task to take back to their class and feedback the following week to their follow School Council members.

• Outside providers – Crystal Palace have run PSHE sessions, Police and Fire education, NSPCC ‘Speak out, Stay safe’ programme

• Wellbeing and Mental Health days teaching children mindfulness and yoga, plus First Aid training.

• PSHE curriculum (SCARF) covers themes in each class such as friendship, rights and responsibilities, respecting differences

• Kindness certificates each week to celebrate kind acts

Within these, a range of tools are used, this is just a small example:

• Zones of Regulations – we use this across the whole school
o The Zones of Regulation is an internationally-renowned intervention which helps children to manage difficult emotions, known as ‘self-regulation’.
o To teach all of our children good coping and regulation strategies so they can help themselves when they experience anxiety and stress.

• Anonymous surveys allowing pupils to voice their opinions and ideas

• ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant)
o Topics covered within an ELSA can be social skills, emotions, bereavement, social stories and therapeutic stories, anger management, self-esteem, counselling skills such as solution focus and friendship building.

• Lego Therapy is an evidence-based approach that aims to develop social communication skills in autistic children (but can be accessed by and beneficial to all children), such as sharing, turn-taking, following rules, using names and problem-solving.