Kate O’Connor, headteacher at Lessness Heath Primary School in Kent, invited me to join the team two years ago, at a time when the school was in special measures. There were concerns around the parents’ level of trust in the school, and their loss of faith in its ability to provide learning. There was a culture of blame.
I’d previously worked at the school years before as a therapeutic play specialist, before leaving to become a school safeguarding officer in a different London borough and later setting up my own therapeutic support business. Some time after that, I returned to Lessness Heath as a service provider, not long after it had been taken on by the Primary First Trust. Working alongside a newly appointed headteacher – formerly the school’s deputy head – we resolved to take the school forward into a better place.
Opening doors
My main role initially was to visit specific classrooms and give talks to certain members staff around wellbeing and mental health, in an effort to build their self-esteem and confidence. It soon became apparent, however, that there was a need for this throughout the whole school, with the result that I was eventually taken on as a permanent employee.
To address the broader wellbeing needs of our staff, the first thing we did was send out a confidential survey asking how they were managing their roles, what difficulties and challenges they faced and what would improve their experiences within the school. Those findings were then used to help develop an assessment tool for gauging when our staff might require a wellbeing intervention.
From there, we devised a staff wellbeing policy built around annual measuring and monitoring strategies for the staff themselves, and ensured that everyone had a means of voicing their particular needs. We also introduced a ‘staff wellbeing menu’; each month, staff are assigned a particular wellbeing activity that encourages everyone working within the school to come together as a group.
The staff are consulted on what these will be ahead of time, and have previously included Yoga and mindfulness, creative art sessions and social gatherings. Over the past year, we’ve found that setting aside time for these activities has led to phenomenal improvements in the staff’s teamwork skills and the forging of valuable connections between colleagues.
Beyond that, staff are able to consult a wellbeing noticeboard that displays the details of an externally provided confidential counselling service they can use, and which is updated each month with additional support information and space for staff to voice any concerns. Wellbeing supervision is offered to any staff who request it, and the school’s SLT operates an ‘open door’ policy. As the process has gone on, we’ve sought to thread concepts of wellbeing through all of the school’s appraisal systems.
Teachers will now tell us when they’re struggling and what they need to succeed. In late July this year, I put three questions to the school’s teachers, asking them to rate their wellbeing right now, the quality of wellbeing provision within the school, and what they’d need for their wellbeing to improve. We saw overall scores of 9/10, marking a considerable year-on-year improvement at the end of what had been a very long and hot summer term. We can see that that the approaches and strategies we’re pursuing are having positive outcomes.
Shedding the masks
Another big concern for us is recruitment and retention, which we’ve looked to address by establishing links with other schools that have implemented excellent practice of their own. One difficulty we’ve had is that we’re located just outside of London, and have seen teachers receive far higher salaries by moving to a different school just two miles away. That said, we’re generally keeping hold of our teachers at the moment, which I think is due in part to them being happier, and because their wellbeing and self-care have been well looked after here.
Back when we started the process, many staff at the school were functioning from a place of fear. They were just about coping – putting on a mask, coming in and tackling the demands of the job each day as best as they could. As our work progressed, people began examining their emotions more closely, dropping those masks and struggling less. In process, however, we encountered – and still do – people preferring to avoid discussions about their wellbeing. That’s because for some people, not looking at themselves in that way is, in itself, a means of protecting what sense of wellbeing they have.
On the whole, however, it’s had a really positive impact. We’ve had teachers who were at one time thinking of leaving the profession, but who decided to stay on after going through our wellbeing process. Our teachers have developed their capacity to understand their own emotions and those of the children they work with. More are now approaching their jobs from a place of empathy and are better able to respond to appropriately to their own needs, rather than simply remaining anxious and unable to tackle them. They’re now able have powerful conversations, because they’ve been taught what language shouldbe used.
Honest language
The way we all now talk in school very different compared to what it was. If a child’s struggling, we’ll ask the parents – ‘I can see you’re upset – what do you need to feel better?’ Previously, these types of conversations wouldn’t take place. I made a conscious effort to model that type of language when I rejoined the school, and have since seen it catch on. We now have parents who’ll refer their children, and even children who’ll self-refer themselves. Across our school community, people have became much more open and honest when it comes to their mental health and wellbeing needs.
Our last Ofsted inspection took place in December 2017, during which the inspectors took a keen interest in the wellbeing work we were doing. They made a point of really digging deep – looking at our wellbeing menu activities in detail, and speaking extensively to pupils and staff. This year’s SATs results have subsequently been the best we’ve ever had.
Our attendance has also improved among both pupils and staff, marking a significant turnaround from the long-term staff absences we used to see, some of which stemmed from emotional health issues.
In the end, the school was rated overall as Good, while our personal welfare provision was rated as Outstanding. I was further delighted to lead on a project for the Wellbeing Award for Schools accreditation – we were successful in being the first school to achieve this, which generated considerable interest in our wellbeing story and resulted in a visit from the BBC.
There’s been a huge interest from other schools in what we’re doing. In response, we’ve started organising monthly wellbeing seminars for schools locally, and hosted visits for representatives from schools as far afield as Yorkshire. We’ve also set up a wellbeing consultancy that operates out of Lessness Heath itself with the aim of helping to sustain the wellbeing strategy we’ve two years working on, while at the same time raising some much-needed funds for the school.
With my own role responsible for a chunk of the school’s budget, there’s a requirement for me to earn money for the school and safeguard what we’re doing. It helps that I’m quite business-minded – we’ve organised talks at various events in partnership with Optimus Education and the Attachment Research Centre. Both Kate and myself are passionate about sharing our successful whole school wellbeing approaches with others, and give talks at conferences in return for membership of professional organisations and resources that will benefit the school. The upshot of all this is that our wellbeing work is not just successful, but also self-sustaining.
Kelly Hannaghan is wellbeing leader at Lessness Heath Primary School; for more details regarding the school’s termly Wellbeing Seminars and bespoke consultancy packages, contact admin@lessnessheath.bexley.sch.uk.
