Support For Children

Pupils feel happy and safe. They said that adults will check any messages passed on to their class ‘worry monster’ and sort them out. Pupils feel that bullying is very rare. However, they know that other pupils and staff deal with bullying effectively if it ever happens. Ofsted, 2021

The Worry Monster

Throughout the school, children are encouraged to share any worries they may have in a variety of ways. For many years, each classroom has adopted a Worry Monster. The Worry Monster has a mouth where you can place your worries or thoughts - sometimes just sharing a worry can help you feel better. Our Mental Health Lead monitors the children’s ‘worries’ and, if further support is required, she will adapt any intervention to ensure everyone feels supported.

A while ago, we ran a competition in school to design our own Worry Monster. Children from across school took part and there were fantastically-creative drawings submitted. The School Councillors chose their favourite two which were then turned into 3-d mock-ups and final (crotched) models. The two winning designs also make up our ‘We share our worries’ logo.

Each class has one for the final models alongside their real Worry Monster in the PSHE area.

Time To Talk

Children in school are encouraged to talk about their worries. We always remind children that if they can’t share wit friends then they can talk to any adult in school and, if not the adults in their class, then they can ask to speak to anyone about how they’re feeling.

Self Help Steps

In all of our teaching, we reinforce the importance of resilience and self help and encourage the children to understand where self help can found.

During Anti-Bullying Week 2023, we will be updating our current document that was written by the children in 2020. The challenge will be to create an eye-catching document which reminds children of steps they can take to make themselves feel better when they are down.

When we have selected a winning piece, it will be printed and shared in all classrooms and shared spaces in school.

Watch this space…