What is mental health?

We all have mental health. Mental health is about our feelings, our thinking, our emotions and our moods. Looking after our mental health is important.

We all have small feelings every day: These sometimes feel strong and overwhelming, whether happy or sad, but they go away before too long.

Sometimes we experience big feelings: These feel strong and overwhelming for a long time. They stop us doing what we want to in our lives.

At Dogsthorpe Infant school we believe that by talking about our feelings, recognising how different emotions make our bodies feel, labelling emotions and having a range of strategies to support us when our feelings are overwhelming will help us good mental health.

In school, we teach children about what it means to have good mental health and wellbeing throughout our curriculum, Shine Values and daily practice.

Our PSHE curriculum focuses specifically on developing children’s social and emotional skills which can prevent poor mental health from developing and help all children cope effectively with setbacks and remain healthy. It is about helping children to understand and manage their thoughts, feelings and behaviour and build skills that help them to thrive, such as working in a team, persistence, and self-awareness. We encourage children to talk about being mentally healthy.

 

What helps?

Being in good physical health by eating a balanced diet, getting regular exercise and having a good sleeping routine

Having time and the freedom to play

Being part of a family that talks about how they feel with each other

Taking part in local activities for young people.

Feeling loved, trusted, understood, valued and safe

Being hopeful and optimistic

Going to a school that looks after the wellbeing of all its pupils

Being able to learn and having opportunities to succeed

Accepting who they are and recognising what they are good at

Having a sense of belonging in their family, school and community

Feeling they have some control over their own life

Having resilience when something is hard and the ability to solve problems.