Pastoral, Mental Health and Wellbeing

The Pastoral Team:

Mrs Brownlee is our Pastoral Lead. She oversees the Pastoral team. She enjoys walking her dog Marley. Her favourite ways to look after her wellbeing are doing Crossfit and Yoga

Miss Allan, Year 5 Pastoral Assistant

Miss Allan looks after the Year 5 children. She enjoys swimming and going for walks. Her favourite way to look after her wellbeing is spending time with her friends.

Mrs Barlow, Year 6 Pastoral Assistant

Mrs Barlow looks after the Year 6 children. She enjoys spending time with her friends and family and reading. Her favourite ways to look after her wellbeing are walking with her dog Alfie and using finger breathing.

Take a look at our Pastoral Room.

All children can use this room to speak or complete some work with their Pastoral TA.

In every classroom, you will find a sensory box. In the sensory box, are different calming objects that will help your wellbeing. These can be used when you are sat in the calm chair.

Pets as Therapy

Welcome Ruby!

Ruby visits us at Westacre on a Thursday afternoon, with her owner Cathy, to help support some of our children.

Ruby is excellent at supporting children with feeling more calm and safe at school.

She has already met some of our year 5 children and is now working with some of our year 6 children.

'Ruby has helped me to feel happy at school' - Y5 child

'I liked seeing Ruby because I had something to look forward too'. - Y5 child

School Counsellor

Debbie Grice-Griffin is a qualified counsellor and an accredited member of the National Counselling Society (NCS).

Debbie works at Westacre on a Monday morning and all day Wednesday, with children from any year group. She can help you to explore your emotions and feelings, using toys, books, art or talking therapies.

Wellbeing and Emotional Support Practitioner

Charlotte works for the charity Onside who provide children and young people with the skills and techniques to better manage their own emotional wellbeing and improve their confidence and self-esteem. Debbie is predominately based at Droitwich Spa High School, however, has weekly time with us in providing 1:1 support with our year 7 children who would benefit from additional help.

1. Connect with other people

Good relationships are important for your mental wellbeing. They can:

help you to build a sense of belonging and self-worth
give you an opportunity to share positive experiences
provide emotional support and allow you to support others

2. Be physically active

Being active is not only great for your physical health and fitness. Evidence also shows it can also improve your mental wellbeing by:

raising your self-esteem
helping you to set goals or challenges and achieve them
causing chemical changes in your brain which can help to positively change your mood

3. Learn new skills

Research shows that learning new skills can also improve your mental wellbeing by:

boosting self-confidence and raising self-esteem
helping you to build a sense of purpose
helping you to connect with others

4. Give to others

Research suggests that acts of giving and kindness can help improve your mental wellbeing by:

creating positive feelings and a sense of reward
giving you a feeling of purpose and self-worth
helping you connect with other people

5. Pay attention to the present moment (mindfulness)

Paying more attention to the present moment can improve your mental wellbeing. This includes your thoughts and feelings, your body and the world around you.

Some people call this awareness "mindfulness". Mindfulness can help you enjoy life more and understand yourself better. It can positively change the way you feel about life and how you approach challenges.