Benjamin Britten Academy of Music & Mathematics

At Benjamin Britten we have an excellent pastoral care system. This also encompasses emotional and mental wellbeing.

We are fortunate to have a school counsellor Fiona Simpson who works with us four days a week. Fiona runs a 1:1 service  We also have Assistant Heads of Year who are Mental Health First Aid trained and can work with our children on mental health issues.

We host the Mental Health Support Team on site, who can work with pupils with emerging mental health concerns. We also work with Anjali Stringer who is a NHS Mental Health practitioner (formally known as CHAMS) Anjali works with groups of pupils throughout all years focusing on anxiety, resilience and healthy relationships.

Part of our whole school provision on mental health are two programmes run within tutor times, Life Lessons and Wellbeing Wednesday. Both Programmes are completed every week and allow for discussion on keeping mentally healthy.

Useful resources are: 

Young minds Resources - Our vision is clear: we want to see a world where no young person feels alone with their mental health. To achieve this, that wait for support has to end. If all young people can get the mental health support they need, when they need it, we can stop an emerging mental health need becoming a crisis. This is our purpose – and we are absolutely clear about we can make it happen.

Ollee App – Mental Health and Wellbeing - 

We are aware that some children do not wish to discuss their emotional wellbeing with school staff so we also have access to the KOOTH service. https://www.kooth.com/

Kooth, from XenZone, is an online counselling and emotional well-being platform for children and young people, accessible through mobile, tablet and desktop and free at the point of use. 

Self harm

Self-harm is often understood to be a physical response to an emotional pain of some kind and can be very addictive.

Internet matters -As children’s use of the online world grows, increasing mental health issues such as self-harm are taking a different form online. Children are now actively seeking abuse online as a way to self-harm.

If you need support please contact- https://www.internetmatters.org/issues/self-harm/