Well-being or wellness refers to the experience of health, happiness, and prosperity of an individual or a group. It includes having good mental health, positive relationships with others, a sense of meaning or purpose and the ability to manage stress. A high level of well-being would suggest that the condition or state of an individual or group is positive and fulfilling. According to Naci and Loannidis, “Wellness includes choices and activities aimed at achieving physical vitality, mental alacrity, social satisfaction, a sense of accomplishment, and personal fulfilment.”

At Uffculme School student and staff wellbeing are integral to all that we do. This is demonstrated through our practice in a number of ways:

 

• Healthy Eating, Healthy Lifestyles including Exercise and Healthy Relationships are delivered through PSHECC lessons, assemblies and our themed days throughout the school year which includes Sports Day and the Life Bus.

• We are a Rights Respecting School and having gained our Bronze award, we are currently working on achieving our Silver level. By doing so we are contributing to the well-being of young people through the promotion of their rights and responsibilities.

• We celebrate and support a range of mental health awareness days throughout the year including ‘Time to Talk’ day, Autism Awareness, Anti-Bullying Week and World Kindness day. Our young people actively engage in a variety of activities to enable them to better understand how to have a happy and healthy life both physically and mentally.

• Our well established communication system has been developed by experienced staff enabling our young people to express their need and wants thus reducing the potential for stress and anxiety.

• We have a student well being surgery where our young people can go for bespoke advice and support about a variety of issues. They can self-refer or by referred by a member of staff.

• We work with a number of outside agencies including Malachi, the BEP and Forward Thinking Birmingham to provide support for our young people and their families. We are currently working with the Birmingham Education Partnership to develop a comprehensive action plan for mental health and wellbeing in our school.

• We pride ourselves on fostering strong relationships with parents and carers through workshops, coffee mornings, community days, phone calls and home school books. We understand the importance of clear communication in developing trust and solidarity with the parents and carers of our young people. Through our school newsletter we offer monthly support, tips and advice for cultivating positive mental health and wellbeing. This includes references to external groups and organisations such as Mind.