Mental Health and Wellbeing

Mental Health & Wellbeing at Jesse Gray

At Jesse Gray Primary School, we aim to develop the whole child: educationally, emotionally, morally, and physically. We believe that supporting mental health is essential to helping children reach their potential and build lifelong resilience.

Our Partnership with the Mental Health Support Team (MHST)

Jesse Gray is proud to be an MHST-supported school. This means we work directly with specialised mental health professionals to ensure support is integrated into school life. The MHST runs whole-class workshops with all year groups, which feed into our whole school approach towards mental health, and also facilitate targeted small-group sessions on a needs basis throughout the year. This also means that as parents and carers, you have a direct pathway to support. You can self-refer to the service to get advice and help for your child on the link below.

https://www.nottinghamshirehealthcare.nhs.uk/camhs-self-referral

Tiers of Support

We recognise that every child’s needs are different and therefore we organise our support into three levels:

Universal Support: Built into our ethos and PSHE curriculum. Every child learns about strategies to support their mental health, through research backed strategies such as the ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’ or sessions from the MHST.

Additional Support: For children facing short-term challenges or vulnerabilities, such as bereavement or anxiety.

Targeted Support: Specialist interventions, including our ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) nurture provision and direct work with the MHST or outside agencies.

How We Promote Wellbeing

We take a pro-active approach to mental health through:

Our PSHE Curriculum: Focused on identity, relationships, and coping with change.

No Outsiders: We are a ‘No Outsiders’ school as we truly believe in the importance of everyone feeling like they belong and are welcome in our school -  the core message is "All Different, All Welcome," aiming to ensure no child feels they need to change to fit in.

Awareness Events: Marking World Mental Health Day and Children’s Mental Health Week with practical strategies that develop the whole child, such as the importance of belonging and resilience.

Enrichment: Building self-esteem through sports, music, STEM, and local community projects.

Staff Training: Ensuring our teachers are equipped to identify and support children’s emotional needs early.

Information for Parents & Carers

If you have concerns about your child’s wellbeing, please do not hesitate to speak with us.

Who to contact:

1. Your child’s Class Teacher
2. Our Mental Health Lead – Beth Newbold – bnewbold@ga.jessegray.notts.sch.uk
3. The School SENCO – Lucy Viggars – lviggars@ga.jessegray.notts.sch.uk

We work closely with several local partners to ensure your family gets the right help at the right time, including NottAlone, the Healthy Families Team, and Educational Psychologists. For further support and information, please visit our additional links for a library of resources and tools for families.