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Welcome to our tenth Wellbeing newsletter.
Our Wellbeing Newsletter is published three times a year, and we hope the information and advice in this issue is helpful.
This issue looks ahead to Childrens’ Mental Health Week which runs across the country from 3-7 February. We also include some sources of support and to this newsletter we have attached the 'tips for parents and carers' that have been put together by Place2Be for Children’s Mental Health Week.
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The theme for this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week, powered by Place2Be, is KNOW YOURSELF, GROW YOURSELF.
Place2Be writes "We want Children’s Mental Health Week 2025 to encourage children, young people and adults to embrace self-awareness and explore what it means to them. This will help them grow and develop resilience to cope with what life throws at them. During Children’s Mental Health Week we want to celebrate children and young people building resilience, embracing self-awareness and forming strong connections with others."
Looking after the wellbeing of our students is of the utmost importance – and, whilst it is right that we highlight the importance of wellbeing and mental health during this week, it is important every day. Since we returned in January, we have run Wellbeing workshops for Years 8 and 9, and our annual carousel of wellbeing workshops for Year 7. We are also delivering exam stress input to Year 11.
Being at Little Heath School means being part of our special community where everyone is important and valued. We frequently talk with students and remind students about their avenues of support. We don’t want any students “suffering in silence” and there are several places that students can go within school should they wish to chat about how they are feeling.
We look out for each other and we embrace kindness. One of many ways that students show kindness is by volunteering to mentor younger students and this year we celebrate the 20th birthday of our SMILE Peer Mentoring team – twenty years of our students helping others.
At Little Heath School, we will be marking Children’s Mental Health Week in various ways. On Friday 7 February we will have a special tutor period where students will spend an hour engaging in activities and discussions about wellbeing with their tutor.
We will host a special assembly for all year groups on Tuesday 4 February at the start of the week. There will be a lunchtime activity session based around connections and regular updates on the school’s social media pages will be seen throughout the week. We will also, of course, be reminding students about their avenues of support both inside and outside of school.
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At Little Heath School we have created more of our Little Heath School WELLBEING BAGS.
The idea behind the Wellbeing Bag is to give students a few moments to focus on their wellbeing with the support of some games, some things to read and some things to colour.
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There are now Wellbeing Bags in the Student Wellbeing Office, Inclusion and in each Key Stage Office - so if any students would like to have a look at the Wellbeing Bag, they are welcome to visit us before or after school, or at break and lunchtimes.
Huge thanks to Ryan and Sanjay from Avocado Property Bracknell for funding the contents of the new Wellbeing Bags.
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At Little Heath School we are incredibly proud of all of our students. So many of our students give their time, their energy and their heart to participate in the life of the school. Nowhere is this spirit more in evidence than in our SMILE team who, for the past two decades, have been quietly but effectively supporting our youngest students. It has been a real privilege to watch generations of Year 10 students volunteer for the team and then use their wisdom and their kindness to give other students a boost, a friendly ear and some good advice.
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It began as a project for a Thames Valley competition in 2004-2005 led by Mrs Rayner and a group of students – and they chose the name “SMILE” to reflect the positive nature of this initiative. Mr Linz took over in September 2005 and has led SMILE ever since then, training and supporting student mentors. Our students have primarily supported younger students at Little Heath, but we have also led workshops in some of our primary schools, and we have worked with other secondary schools too, to develop Peer Mentoring more widely across West Berkshire.
As SMILE has evolved, we now have Sixth Formers supporting younger students alongside our Year 10s.
The feedback we receive from both Year10s and our younger students has been consistently positive over the years, and we have found that being a part of SMILE benefits the mentors as much as the younger students. We are hugely grateful to every student, present and past, who has been a part of the team, and we thank them for making a real difference.
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This list was written by young people around the country for Children’s Mental Health Week 2024:
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1. Don’t keep it all to yourself and spend too much time in your own head. This can sometimes make it keep piling up, and make you feel worse.
2. Talk to someone you trust and feel comfortable with–a teacher, parent, sibling, cousin, friend... if you can’t think of anyone and need to talk, try talking to someone like Shout by texting SHOUT to 85258 for free.
3. Write your thoughts and feelings down.
4. Keep in contact with people, don’t isolate yourself.
5. Don’t dismiss your feelings because you think they aren’t valid. Everything you feel is valid and important to you.
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6. Focus on the good parts of your life and doing what you love, rather than the negative.
7. Be your own best friend because at the end of the day, you’re stuck with you – so look after yourself!
8. If you feel upset, then tell someone you trust and distract yourself in the meanwhile.
9. Do something you enjoy to help you relax and have a break–watch a film, play a game, watch your favourite YouTuber, listen to music
10. Remember that you’re not alone, even if it sometimes feels like you are.
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The Mental Health Foundation offers the following advice for supporting mental health and wellbeing:
- Get closer to nature
- Learn to understand and manage your feelings
- Talk to someone
- Get more from your sleep
- Be Kind and help create a better world
- Eat healthily
- Keep moving
- Plan things to look forward to
- Be curious and open-minded about new experiences
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Further information and details about all of these tips can be found here: Mental Health Foundation
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Talking is important and can be a huge source of support. We would always encourage students to talk to someone they trust if they are, at any time, feeling worried, anxious, unhappy or sad.
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When talking to others about their wellbeing and mental health, the Mental Health Foundation suggest:
- Finding a good space to talk without distractions
- Giving eye contact and full attention
- Listening and asking questions
- Asking how you can help
There is advice about how to prepare to talk to someone about their mental health and phrases to use and avoid. Please visit Mental Health Foundation
The Young Minds website has a good deal of information to support parents/carers in talking to their children about mental health and wellbeing:
How to Talk to Your Child about Mental Health | YoungMinds
The website also has wider information to support parents/carers in looking after young people’s mental health:
Parents Mental Health Support | Advice for Your Child | YoungMinds
Mentally Healthy Schools have produced the following guide:
Having a conversation with a child about Mental Health - mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk
Mind has the following support for parents in holding conversations with young people: Talking to an 11-18 year old about their mental health - Mind
The Children’s Society offers the following advice: childrenssociety.org.uk - Wellbeing Support Guide
Young Minds and Mentally Healthy Schools have produced the following document, based on conversations they have had with young people, about helpful questions for parents to ask their child:
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Just as we look after our physical health, so it is important to look after our mental health. Self-care is about what we can do to look after ourselves, to keep ourselves feeling ok, or to help ourselves feel better.
Everyone’s approach to self-care is different, but it is important that young people, and all of us, explore and develop strategies that work for us. Self-care does not have to be a big event - but it is important that we all find time to practise self-care.
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Importantly, self-care is not a substitute for seeking professional support if needed.
There are so many ideas and suggestions for self-care that are available. Here are some common themes:
- Physical activities and exercise are important – they are a great way to relieve stress and help to centre or clear our mind.
- Relaxation techniques – practising breathing
- Time away from technology -leaving your phone behind, and time away from social media, can be of great benefit.
- Social activities – connecting with others, spending time with others brings with it many positive benefits to boost your wellbeing. Laughter really is good medicine!
- Music can be a great source of positivity. Listening to a favourite song, creating a playlist or listening to a happy song can all boost how someone is feeling. Music also helps to take your mind away – even for a short time – from worries.
- Gratitude – taking time to notice good things that have happened on the day and the blessings that we have, such as family and friends
- Self-kindness – taking time to do things you enjoy and taking time to recognise what you have achieved in the day.
- Organisation – setting achievable goals can give extra motivation and encouragement. Writing lists can help prevent stress.
- Routine – is helpful as a foundation for feeling good.
- Sharing concerns – either in person or via an online forum. It is important – and beneficial – to talk about any worries or concerns that you have.
The NHS has a series of videos available to support young people in looking after themselves and coping with worries: Self-care tips videos for young people - Every Mind Matters - NHS
The Anna Freud Centre has a booklet with top tips for young parents/carers - www.annafreud.org
Young Minds also has support for young people: Help With How I'm Feeling | Mental Health Advice | YoungMinds | YoungMinds
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Tellmi is an award-winning early intervention mental health service. The service delivers fully moderated, evidence-based, anonymous, peer support to young people aged 11–25 years via an app.
The app allows young people to talk with others of a similar age and experience and provide each other with support, advice, empathy and a sense of belonging. When someone registers for the app, they are asked for a date of birth so that they are only shown posts from people of a similar age (2 years above and 2 years below).
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The app has been approved by the NHS and the NHS deems the app safe for people as young as 11. The app has been independently evaluated by the Evidence Based Practice Unit at University College London and is evidenced to improve mental health in young people.
Users can anonymously post about anything that is worrying them and receive supportive replies from other people of a similar age. All posts and replies are checked by one of Tellmi’s team of trained moderators before being published. Moderation takes an average of 19 minutes. Moderation hours are from 8.30am to 11pm, so if someone makes a post or reply outside those hours, it won’t be published until the service opens again.
High-risk posts are redirected to the in-house counselling team for immediate support.
Tellmi features a comprehensive support directory with over 600 resources and educational resources and users can access 24/7 crisis support in two clicks. Both the feed and directory can be filtered by topic, eg ‘exams’, ‘friends’, which makes it easy for young people to join relevant conversations and access appropriate support.
For information about Tellmi’s approach to safeguarding, please visit www.tellmi.help/safeguarding. For more information about Tellmi generally, and to download the app, please visit the Tellmi website: www.tellmi.help/
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The NHS and others have produced this tool to support people in taking care of their wellbeing:
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There is information available for parents and carers to support the wellbeing of young people:
Parents Mental Health Support | Advice for Your Child | YoungMinds
Information for supporting your young person's mental health | Mind, the mental health charity - help for mental health problems
Emotional Health Academy Young people, families and professionals can refer to the Emotional Health triage. You can find out more, and access the online referral form, at http://info.westberks.gov.uk/eha
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There is lots of support available for students in school, and we would always encourage students to come and chat with us if they are, at any time, feeling worried, anxious, unhappy or sad.
Form tutors and Sixth Form mentors are the first point of contact for students. Students may also, of course, talk to their Head of Year and Progress Leader as well as the Deputy Head and Assistant Heads who lead their Key Stage team. Mr Linz, our Student Wellbeing Lead, is also available for students, as are our Inclusion Team.
If students would prefer to make contact about wellbeing by email, we have a dedicated wellbeing email smile@littleheath.org.uk which is monitored between 8am and 5pm on weekdays. Please note that this email is for students only. The Little Heath School website has a page dedicated to student wellbeing - Little Heath School - Student Wellbeing and there is a support form accessible from this page.
Since our return to school in 2021, we have asked all of our students to participate in a Tutor Wellbeing survey towards the end of each full term, where students give an update about how they are feeling through their responses to several questions. These surveys are then analysed by tutors and by the Pastoral team, and any additional necessary interventions are then put in place. Since we began these surveys, it has proved a really worthwhile and helpful process. The next Tutor Wellbeing survey will be at the end of June.
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Time to Talk West Berkshire provides FREE confidential counselling services for young people in need, aged 11 to 25. If you need support and/or want to find out more, please email office@t2twb.org or call 01635 760331
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Young Minds: Their website is full of advice and information to give young people the tools to look after their mental health. They empower parents and professionals to be the best support they can be to the young people in their lives. And they give young people the space and confidence to get their voices heard
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Kooth: You can access support from other young people and professionals, all at your own pace
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Stonewall: Support for LGBTQ+
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Anna Freud: Self-care strategies for young people feeling low or anxious.
The Anna Freud Crisis Messenger text service is a free, confidential, 24/7 text message support service for anyone who is feeling overwhelmed or is struggling to cope. Their service is staffed by trained volunteers who will work with you to take your next steps towards feeling better.
If you need support, you can text AFC to 85258.
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The Children's Society: Full of age-specific advice on issues that may be worrying children and young people
Emotional health and wellbeing for Young People
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CAMHS in Berkshire (berkshirehealthcare.nhs.uk):
If you want to talk to someone about whether CAMHS is the right service to help, or if you are having extreme mental health difficulties and need support urgently, call the team on 0300 365 1234, 8.00am-8.00pm Monday to Friday. Outside of these hours, if you need urgent help, please contact the adult crisis team on 0300 365 0300
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No5: Reading's young person's counselling and mental health support service for anyone between the ages of 11-25. They have been delivering free, professional, confidential counselling, outreach and mental health support to young people who live, work or study in the 'RG' postcode area since 1971.
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NATIONAL HELPLINES
CHILDLINE
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0800 1111
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THE MIX
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0808 808 4994
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THE SAMARITANS
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116 123
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SHOUT
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The UK’s 24/7 text service for anyone in crisis, anytime, anywhere. It’s a place to go if you’re struggling to cope and you need immediate help.
TEXT SHOUT to 85258
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