Mental health issues are on a steep upwards rise amongst adults and more concerning, amongst children.

As reported in the Guardian in April 2019.

As the challenges individuals face continue to develop, schools are now dealing with situations that they have limited experience in supporting.

Wise Owl Trust is forward thinking and is pathing the way for innovation by further developing our curriculum to prepare our pupils for the tests of life rather than a life of tests.’ From the age of three, our children will be given strategies to cope in the most challenging of situations to support them throughout their school life, but also into adulthood. Our aim is to prevent as much suffering as possible through arming our children with toolkits to be used at their discretion.

Self-regulation of emotions and intrinsic motivation is a life skill that Wise Owl Trust believes is essential. Behaviour is taught to be intrinsically rewarded through the building of relationships, rather than superficial rewards. Opportunities for reflection plays a vital role within our academies as we recognise that reflection is not an innate human capacity, but relies upon cognitive structures within the brain which take time to develop.

Therefore, by supporting our children to reflect both before carrying out an action, and after, offers an opportunity to critically assess their actions and take ownership. It is this ownership that will make a difference to the decisions made and therefore upon future society with an influence on positive attitudes, values and sense of personal identity.

A good understanding of how the brain works, and how it affects our bodies, thoughts, feelings and in turn sometimes our decisions is vital to maintain a happy equilibrium. This is also important in order to understand; what our emotions are, how to control them, and how they can affect other people around us. Emotional literacy is well researched and plays a huge part in being happy.

Equally as important is understanding how to keep our brains healthy through nutrition, the importance of sleep and the avoidance of overstimulating the brain through things such as gaming.

Living in the ‘present’ through strategies such as Mindfulness has been widely researched as a method to support positive mental health, promote self-awareness, reduce stress, anxiety and depression.

Wise Owl Trust practice Mindfulness daily with all Trust members taking part. Our fully trained Mindfulness ambassadors promote the practice and support where needed. Yoga is offered to all as a calming activity.

The voice of our pupils is important to us and plays an integral role in our academy development plans and annual focus. Our pupils’ feedback and allow us to gain a ‘temperature’ across the Trust. And more importantly, it offers our children the security of knowing where to go to seek help.

As we know all too well, adults are also in a state of crisis with poor mental health such dealing with the anxieties of today and tomorrow. We have therefore incorporated within all of our programmes toolkits to support our staff, parents and families. We have trained Mental Health First Aiders in each academy for adults. See more at:

Relationships
(behaviour) policy

Emotional wellbeing and mental health policy

Named MHFA