Mental Health

Ss. Mary and John operates a true ‘Open Door’ policy. This means that senior staff are on the gates every day both before and after school that one member of the leadership team is available and on duty, without appointment every day. At busy times, you may need to wait but someone will see you and hear your concerns.

Class teachers will also always make themselves available to speak to parents and carers within 24 hours. We can’t guarantee that a specific teacher will always be instantly available, especially immediately before school as they start teaching at 8.34am, but they will either get back to you by phone call or email or at the end of the school day if you have a pressing issue that you need to discuss. You can also make an appointment to speak to your child’s class teacher for less urgent matters and do not have to wait for the next parents’ evening.

Our learning mentor, Mrs Alice Griffin, is in school every week, Monday to Wednesday, working with and supporting children identified by school staff and assessing barriers to learning whether these are academic, social, emotional or behavioural.

Mrs Vernalls and Miss Vale are our designated Mental Health First Aiders for Adults in school and have completed the relevant training for this.

Mrs Lynch and Mrs Du Noyer are our designated mental health first aiders for children and have completed the relevant training. They are available to speak to any parent who is concerned about their child’s mental health and offer support for this. This would need to be booked in due to the sensitivity of the conversation.

Compass are a mental health support service that work with children and their families who are experiencing difficulties with thier mental health. They can meet with parents to assess whether they feel the child would benefit from working with their service and then work with the child in school to address the concerns.