Wellbeing Award for Schools

Our Well-being Vision Statement

At The Ladies’ College we:

Commit to promoting positive well-being throughout our College community.

Understand the importance of well-being and the role it plays in creating an environment where all are healthy, happy and achieve their best.

Listen, support and respond to the views of our community and provide opportunities to equip all with the tools needed to maintain a positive well-being.

We are pleased to be awarded Wellbeing Award for Schools (WAS) on January 2021.
We are the first school in the Channel Islands to acheive this accreditation.

WAS Logo The Award was set up in partnership with the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) to assist schools in promoting the emotional well-being and positive mental health of staff and pupils. The NCB advocates a whole school approach and seeks to support schools in embedding a culture of good emotional well-being and mental health across the whole school community. Through the use of an action plan, the award will allow us to build on what we already do and offer additional opportunities to support and promote positive mental health and well-being.

About the Award

Principles behind the award

There are four key principles driving the ideas and recommendations behind the award:

Emotional well-being and mental health are a continuum. Related issues can range from positive attitudes and behaviour, through to experiences of emotional distress and mental disorder.
Schools already experience and manage emotional issues on a daily basis; the objective is to minimise the impact of such issues and maximise the effectiveness of any responses.
Emotional well-being covers a range of dimensions, such as resilience, character building, relationships and self-esteem, etc. Understanding both developmental and mental health awareness is critical.
Creating a positive school culture requires a whole-school approach that is led from the top while involving all in the school community.

Embarking on the award process does not imply that College is failing in this area, but rather that we are recognising the needs and demands of our school are changing and we remain committed to responding to these. Much of this change will be apparent in the issues that most schools face on a daily basis.

What are the eight objectives we are working towards?

The Wellbeing Award for Schools (WAS) has eight objectives which focus on areas of evaluation, development and celebration of the work of schools in promoting and protecting emotional well-being and positive mental health. Each of these areas is further broken down into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

Objective 1: The school is committed to promoting and protecting positive emotional well-being and mental health by achieving the Well-being Award for Schools.

Objective 2: The school has a clear vision and strategy for promoting and protecting emotional well-being and mental health, which is communicated to all involved with the school.

Objective 3: The school has a positive culture which regards the emotional well-being and mental health as the responsibility of all.

Objective 4: The school actively promotes staff emotional well-being and mental health.

Objective 5: The school prioritises professional learning and staff development on emotional well-being and mental health.

Objective 6: The school understands the different types of emotional and mental health needs across the whole-school community and has systems in place to respond appropriately.

Objective 7: The school actively seeks the ongoing participation of the whole-school community in its approach to emotional well-being and mental health.

Objective 8: The school works in partnerships with other schools, agencies and available specialist services to support emotional well-being and mental health.

The whole-school community working together to promote positive mental health and well-being

One theme that is central to the award is the need for schools to draw the wider community and relevant stakeholders into the centre of the change process. Parents are one such group. Evidence shows that, for parents, the emotional and mental health needs of their children is of increasing concern, and often parents look to the school to support and inform them. Students also need to be given the opportunity to express their own voice and this can be an influential source of good ideas for any school looking for innovative and appropriate solutions.

Updates on our progress

Initial information to Parents - October 2019 (pdf)
Well-being Award Survey Letter - October 2019 (pdf)
Well-being Invitation - November 2019 (pdf)
Well-being Award update Michaelmas 2019 (pdf)
Well-being letter September 2020 (pdf)
Well-being letter December 2020 (pdf)
Well-being Award Progress December 2020 (pdf)

Our Aims

What happens if I have a concern?

The Wellbeing Award in College

We are sharing daily well-being posts to our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram since our COVID-19 Lockdown.

Website news during COVID-19:

  Make time to make someone smile
  Mental Health Awareness Week 2020 - 'Kindness'
  Mental Health Awareness Week 2020 - 'Be kind to yourself'
  Cycling good for Mental Health

Pastoral care at College: /information/pastoral-care

Parent, student and staff events

Self Esteem And Supporting Your Daughters Mental Well Being Decider Skills Supporting Your Daughters Wellbeing Wellbeing Evening Wellbeing Morning Beingbrilliant