‘Know Yourself, Grow Yourself’ this Children’s Mental Health Week

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Children and young people are being encouraged to ‘Know Yourself, Grow Yourself’ to help them develop and build resilience to cope with whatever life throws at them this Children’s Mental Health (3-10 February).

Launched by Place2Be, a children’s mental health charity, to “empower, equip and give a voice to all children and young people in the UK”, Children’s Mental Health Week is an opportunity for everyone working with children and young people to reflect on the support they provide to younger generations.

As a North-east Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) with 25 primary schools and five secondary schools in South Tyneside, East Durham and Sunderland, Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust’s ethos is to not only provide high-quality education to its 11,500 pupils, but also the faith teachings and pastoral care needed to develop strong, resilient characters.

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The Trust’s schools each have their own individual approach to character formation and building resilience, but they all start from a common ground of using the teachings of the Catholic faith to support their pupils and follow the mission statement of ‘Better schools, Better communities, Better futures in Christ’.

Headteacher Martin Clephane with pupils at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Sunderland.Headteacher Martin Clephane with pupils at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Sunderland.
Headteacher Martin Clephane with pupils at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Sunderland.

For example, at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Sunderland, they nurture wellbeing through BREW, which stands for Belief, Rights, Environment and Wellbeing.

Headteacher Martin Clephane explains: "BREW stands for Belief in every child’s God-given potential, loving and living their Catholic faith, and showing kindness and respect for the beliefs of others. We treasure their Rights, create a safe and caring Environment, and put Wellbeing at the heart of all we do.

“Our school is a place where happiness thrives, with joyful staff and children who feel valued and supported every day."

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And at St Wilfrid’s RC College, in South Shields, the students are awarded a special coloured tie to demonstrate their achievements in faith, excellence or support. Students present a portfolio demonstrating how they feel they have met the award’s criteria to a panel which is assessed and not every young person achieves it first time.

Fran Craik, chief standards officer at Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust.Fran Craik, chief standards officer at Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust.
Fran Craik, chief standards officer at Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust.

“It is like a Catholic Duke of Edinburgh scheme and is a key part of their pupil character development,” explains Fran Craik, chief standards officer at Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust.

For the past three years, the Trust has worked with educationalist and author Dr Phil Cummins, from a School for Tomorrow, as part of the Trust’s commitment to character development and pupils’ wellbeing.

“Know Yourself, Grow Yourself sits well with the Catholic faith,” says Fran.

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“We know that life isn’t always smooth sailing and sometimes bad things can happen to good people. As a Catholic Trust, we draw on our strength and the strength of others to grow in our hope, faith, resilience and determination.

“It is about prudence. As educators, we try to show young people from a very early age to discern what is fundamentally right or wrong and think about the impact of our words and actions on ourselves and others and to try to be the best versions of ourselves.”

Fran says the secular world with its daily interruptions from social media and smartphones can be a difficult world for young people to grow up in. There can be a creep in mental health issues.

“If we can help our young people to talk to a trusted adult who will listen without judgement, and work in partnership with parents and carers putting the child at the centre of everything, we can open those lines of communication and provide support. Character formation is part of that, trying to help children make better choices and build resilience.

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"There will be times when they are knocked down by events, but they need to learn strategies to get back up – and it’s about giving them the tools to do that to prepare them for adult life.”

This year, which marks the 11th awareness week of the campaign, Place2Be is partnering with Here4You, supported by The Walt Disney Company and the Inside Out 2 characters to explore the theme, ‘Know Yourself, Grow Yourself’.

For more information about the Trust , please visit www.bccet.org.uk

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