Mental Health and Wellbeing

At Jarrow Cross we support the emotional well being of our children in a variety of different ways.

We understand that some children may be anxious coming into school each morning , therefore we run a daily early morning nurture group which supports with this transition from home to school. During this session children are supported by staff to become settled into school and ready for the day ahead.

We also run a lunchtime nurture group to support children for whom the lunchtime period is a little 'busy'. Children can eat their lunch in the Nurture Room and also play games with a small group of children.

We also support our children through small group and 1:1 sessions. These sessions are targeted to specific children's needs and are run by our Family Worker and two of our Teaching Assistants.

Whole class programmes regarding anxiety, friendship and self care are also planned into the school year. These programmes link to PSHE themes and are run by the Healthy Minds Team.

See timetable below.

Mindfulness

It is not simply targeted children who receive emotional support as last academic year all staff took part in a whole school Mindfulness pilot programme run by Sunderland University. During the programme each day staff delivered a pre made powerpoint applicable to children's age which taught the children many different relaxation techniques and becoming mindful of their own bodies. This has been continued this year. Also peer massage is very popular with our younger children.

Sensory Corridor

We release that all of our children are different and some children may need support to regulate their emotions and feelings. To support this last academic year we installed our Sensory Corridor. ( See photographs below)

All children can access the corridor and along it are many pieces of sensory equipment which support the children's sensory needs such as touch, sound and even the opportunity for children to jump, hop etc to support physical movement. A big thanks to The Friends of Jarrow Cross who helped fund our corridor.

Sensory Movements

All of our staff have received external training regarding the importance of meeting our children's sensory needs. For many children breaks are scheduled into the school day during which they have the opportunity to take part in activities which support these needs. This includes using large gym balls, space hoppers and small brushes which are stroked gently across the children's arms.