Vision

At Dickens Heath Primary School, we believe that positive mental health is fundamental to learning, behaviour and personal development. We are committed to creating a safe, nurturing and inclusive environment where every child feels valued, listened to and supported to thrive emotionally, socially and academically.  Mental health and emotional wellbeing at Dickens Heath Primary School underpin pupils’ personal development, behaviour and readiness to learn, ensuring every child has the support they need to flourish.

Our strategy reflects our school values:

• Respect for ourselves and others
• Trust in relationships and support systems
• Honesty in expressing feelings and asking for help
• Co-operation between pupils, staff, families and external agencies
• Positivity in building resilience and confidence

We believe that good mental health leads to positive life outcomes and strong academic achievement.

Whole-School Culture & Ethos

Our whole-school culture and ethos is informed by The Solihull Togetherness Approach, the principles of Nurture and the five social and emotional learning competencies.

The Solihull Approach – Togetherness

Our practice is informed by the Solihull Approach - Togetherness, which promotes emotional health through three key principles:

Containment – helping children to feel emotionally safe by tuning in, acknowledging feelings and thinking together about behaviour.

Reciprocity – building warm, responsive relationships where children feel seen, heard and valued.

Behaviour as Communication – recognising that behaviour often reflects underlying feelings or unmet needs.

The Togetherness model strengthens our partnership with families and reinforces our belief that strong relationships are central to wellbeing.

The principles of Nurture

The principles of Nurture promote positive mental health by fostering a secure, supportive, and emotionally regulated environment that prioritizes building trusting relationships, social-emotional skills, and resilience.

Key ways the principles of Nurture promote positive mental health:

• Building Secure Attachments: Children can connect with caring, reliable staff, fulfilling the need for attachment and fostering a sense of belonging.
• Focusing on Social-Emotional Development: Nurturing environments prioritise understanding and managing emotions, which boosts resilience and improves emotional literacy.
• Creating a Safe Atmosphere: By providing consistent routines, clear expectations, and regulation zones, school creates a safe space that reduces anxiety and improves emotional regulation.
• Proactive Well-being Approach: We use tools like the Boxall Profile® to identify specific emotional needs early, allowing for targeted support before problems become severe.
• Whole-School Ethos: We seek to embed the principles of Nurture as a whole school approach and ethos that values empathy and connection
• Nurture groups: By providing a structured, supportive setting that directly addresses barriers to learning, enabling children to feel, learn, and succeed.

The 5 social and emotional competencies and their link to positive mental, health and wellbeing

The 5 social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making improve positive mental health and well-being by providing individuals with the tools to manage stress, build resilient relationships, and make constructive life choices. These skills act as protective factors that reduce anxiety, depression, and disruptive behaviour while increasing self-esteem, empathy, and academic success.

Here is how each competency supports positive mental health and wellbeing:

Social and Emotional Competencies and Their Impact on Mental Health

1. Self-Awareness
   Understanding one’s own emotions, strengths, areas for growth and values.
   Developing self-awareness helps children recognise stress triggers and understand how their feelings influence their behaviour. It supports a positive and realistic self-image, fosters a growth mindset and builds self-confidence — all of which strengthen emotional wellbeing.
2. Self-Management (Self-Regulation)
   Managing emotions, thoughts, impulses and behaviour effectively.
   This skill supports emotional regulation and stress management. By learning strategies such as calming techniques and positive self-talk, children build resilience, reduce anxiety and develop healthy coping mechanisms when facing challenges.
3. Social Awareness
   Understanding others’ perspectives, showing empathy and recognising available support.
   Social awareness promotes compassion, inclusion and a sense of belonging. By developing empathy and understanding, children are better able to form positive connections, reducing feelings of isolation and supporting overall wellbeing.
4. Relationship Skills
   Communicating clearly, working cooperatively and resolving conflict constructively.
   Strong relationship skills enable children to build and maintain healthy, supportive relationships. These skills reduce social anxiety, improve confidence in social situations and empower children to seek help when needed.
5. Responsible Decision-Making
   Making thoughtful, safe, respectful and ethical choices about behaviour and interactions.
   Developing this competency helps children consider consequences, manage risk and act with integrity. It strengthens confidence in decision-making, promotes safety and supports long-term emotional wellbeing.

Together, these competencies equip children with the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to manage emotions, build positive relationships and maintain good mental health.

We ultimately seek to provide:

• A calm, nurturing and inclusive environment where positive relationships are prioritised
• Mental health and wellbeing embedded across all aspects of school life
• Staff model calm, respectful and positive relationships
• Staff model emotional regulation
• Consistent behaviour expectations rooted in respect and trust
• Clear routines and predictable environments
• Consistent behaviour approaches across the school
• Celebration of effort and progress
• Strong, positive relationships between staff and pupils
• A curriculum that explicitly teaches emotional literacy and resilience
• Calm, relational and supportive responses to behaviour
• Opportunities for children to talk and be heard
• Early identification of children who may need additional support
• Partnership working with parents and external agencies

This is outlined in our strategy overview:

Teaching about Mental Health and positive relationships within the curriculum

The skills, knowledge and understanding needed by our pupils to keep themselves and others physically and mentally healthy and safe are included as part of our Headteacher and class assemblies, themed days/weeks and as part of our developmental PSHE curriculum. At Dickens Heath Community Primary School, we follow the Jigsaw scheme of work.

Benefits of the Jigsaw Programme:

• Creates learning experiences they look forward to

• Establishes a safe learning environment

• Offers accurate information

• Builds skills essential for life and relationships

• Equips them for a modern and diverse world

• Gives resilience and inner strength

• Develops spiritual peace

Structure of Jigsaw:

The creation of Jigsaw is motivated by the belief that if attention is paid to supporting children’s personal development in a structured way, this will not only improve their capacity to learn (across the curriculum), but will ultimately improve their life chances.

Jigsaw consists of 6 ‘Puzzles’ (half-term units of work) containing 6 ‘Pieces’ (lessons). Each Piece has two Learning Intentions. One is based on specific PSHE learning (covering the non-statutory national framework for PSHE Education but enhanced to address children’s needs today); and the other is based on emotional literacy and social skills (covering the SEAL learning intentions but also enhanced). These enhancements mean that Jigsaw is relevant to children living in today’s world as it helps them understand and be equipped to cope with modern issues such as body image, cyber and homophobic bullying and internet safety.

The lessons (‘Pieces’) are structured as follows:

• Connect Us (including Circle Time) - To improve their social skills to better enable collaborative learning.

• Calm Me - Prepare them for learning.

• Open My Mind - Help the brain focus on specific learning intentions.

• Tell Me or Show Me – Initiate new learning.

• Help Me Reflect – Support them in reflecting on their learning and persona; development.

Jigsaw offers many opportunities for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, as well as contributing to all strands of the British Values.

The specific content of lessons will be determined by the specific needs of the cohort we’re teaching but there will always be an emphasis on enabling pupils to develop the skills, knowledge, understanding, language and confidence to seek help, as needed, for themselves or others.  More information can be found within the Curriculum section of the website in the PSHE area.