STAFF WELLBEING:

“Well teachers- teach well”

It is vitally important to recognise that in order to monitor and support children’s mental health and emotional wellbeing, staff members and the school community must have due regard for the health and wellbeing of the adults in school.  If staff members are not emotionally and mentally healthy, they may not be capable of supporting the children as effectively.  School leaders are flexible and supportive when dealing with staff absence and sickness.  When appropriate, leaders make Occupational Health referrals and pay close attention to the advice received.

In order to support staff wellbeing, the Governors and Wider Leadership Team (WLT) are committed to:

• Make health and wellbeing a core priority. Value the strategic importance and benefits of a healthy workplace. We will encourage a consistent, positive approach to all staff health and wellbeing
• Make communication clear to ensure that staff have realistic expectations of what's possible, practical and affordable.
• Routinely discuss wellbeing matters in Governing Body meetings and WLT meetings.
• Support the staff through buying into the Employee Assistance Programme;
• Hold occasional meetings where necessary or requested with staff members to consider issues affecting their wellbeing.
• Have a proactive and visible commitment to health and safety and its role in improving the health and wellbeing of staff, that is, view health and safety as part of the culture of a caring and supportive employer – not only a statutory requirement.
• Create a supportive environment that enables employees to be proactive when and if possible to protect and enhance their own health and wellbeing

Where possible, staff are supported with their work/life balance and wellbeing outside the school. Examples of this could include providing staff with paid leave for both special events and celebrations, and time off to deal with family problems All staff are encouraged to take a responsible approach to health and wellbeing issues, including adopting a robust self-management to their own health.

The protection and fostering of staff wellbeing is increasingly embedded in our management methods and systems. As part of this we will ensure that we conduct annual ‘Wellbeing Surveys’ through questionnaires or other appropriate data gathering methods so we can constantly review and improve our practice at all Saints’. This will also aid and inform future strategies to support the health and wellbeing of all staff.

STAFF TRAINING

As a minimum, all staff will receive regular training about recognising and responding to mental health issues as part of their regular safeguarding training in order to enable them to keep students safe.

Wellbeing and Mental Health will also be discussed at staff meetings throughout the year and as our Wellbeing Team attend further training this will be disseminated amongst staff as appropriate.

The MindEd learning portal provides free online training suitable for staff wishing to know more about a specific issue.

Training opportunities for staff who require more in-depth knowledge will be considered as part of our performance management process and additional CPD will be supported throughout the year where it becomes appropriate due to developing situations with one or more pupils.