At Mesne Lea Primary School, we believe that the health, happiness and wellbeing of each individual is paramount to their personal development, academic progress and next steps in life. Our PSHE curriculum reflects this vision and aims to ensure that children are exposed to positive and supportive health and wellbeing approach with constant support. Our aim is to continue to educate our children to ensure resilience, self-worth, confidence and determination. We have our children's mental health and wellbeing at the heart of all that we do and use our curriculum to address the social, moral, spiritual and cultural development of all learners. 

The information and resources in this section of our school website are intended to provide, support, guidance, offer ideas and share activities that can address difficulties that parents and carers may experience with their child or they can be used to simply help to maintain a healthy wellbeing. There is also information about other agencies and support organisations that you may find useful.

Click here to view short videos on how to support parents with their child's mental health. 

Overcome school worries: Expert tips to support your child and help keep them in class

Tips for parents 

• Appreciate that kids' worries are normal: Children can experience feelings of anxiety to varying extents, and some much worse than others. It's important to understand each child's symptoms and responses to anxiety. Once you have an understanding into how they feel at specific moments, then you can start to help.

• Learn to recognise your own worries as a parent: Being open and sharing experiences of when you have struggled in the past will ultimately help your children understand that they are not the only ones with these feelings, and therefore, they may find it easier to open up. Your anxiety can sometimes rub off on your children, so try to remain calm in the way that you interact with them.

• Take advantage of the resources available: From books and online resources to apps and IRL ('in real life') support groups, there are so many resources at hand to consult when you are looking for ways to best support your child. Your local bookshop can be a great place to start, or search mental health websites such as Headspace, which has a number of free resources available. The article titled 'How to beat school stress from the top down' is a great example. The Department for Education has also collated free resources in one place, which can be accessed on the Education Hub.

• Try family meditation, mindfulness and breathing exercises: For those needing in-the-moment support, practising mindfulness or breathing exercises as a family can be effective. Both methods are proven to slow the heart rate and act as a calming mechanism. This can be done from any place, at any time.

• Take the pressure off: Many children feel different pressures about going to school, from feeling a need to be the most academic to being in the 'right' social group. Try encouraging your child to stay in the present, rather than fearing the next day or week of school, the next exam, and so on. Most importantly, ensure their home is a safe place of respite and support, rather than a source of more pressure.

• Talk to the school: If you're struggling with what you should do about your child’s anxiety, you can speak to your child's school to seek support. The school will often be able to talk to you about particular things that might be worrying your child and work with both you and them to alleviate their worries and support them to attend.

• Speak to a professional: If you or your child are struggling to cope with worries or anxiety which persists over several weeks, it's important to seek the help of a healthcare professional, like a GP, if you haven’t done so already. Talking to your GP, talking treatments such as counselling, psychotherapy or cognitive behavioural therapy (also known as CBT) can help you manage symptoms.

School support

• Your child's school can support your child with mild worry in many different ways and help them to identify and implement coping strategies. This could include providing named and trusted staff members that your child knows they can reach out to at school if they are feeling worried during the school day or setting up targeted support programmes.

  Some specific examples of adjustments that schools can implement, if required, are:

• A quiet place in school where your child can retreat to

• Helping your child to develop coping mechanisms

• Finding a break time buddy

• For a temporary period, later arrival times or 1:1 teaching sessions