During 2023's Children's Mental Health Week, Red Oaks Primary School has partnered with The Happy Confident Company to pilot a social and emotional literacy programme.
The special social and emotional literacy programme will be used as a UK case study for best in-class mental health and wellbeing programmes.
The launch event was held on 9 February, and featured a keynote speech by best-selling author, coach, and founder of the Happy Confident Company, Nadim Saad.
Local parents had the opportunity to hear Nadim explain the programme and share his knowledge gained from working with businesses, families, children and schools in how they can all come together to help children thrive.
Nadim will also presented Red Oaks parents with some top tips, and easy-to-implement strategies for the home.
The Swindon primary school has a dedicated Specialist Resource Provision (SRP) for profoundly deaf children who are fully included in mainstream classes. The Happy Confident Company has been working alongside Red Oaks to create a bespoke FEELIT programme which will support pupils to articulate their emotions through British Sign Language.
Red Oaks staff added were also celebrating the school being awarded the prestigious Silver School Mental Health Award by the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools.
The award is in recognition of the outstanding work the school has undertaken to promote and nurture pupil and staff mental health at the school.
At the launch event, parents received free digital and practical resources to support their child’s mental health and wellbeing.
They were also able to hear from the school’s Mental Health team and Mental Health ambassadors about how the school is supporting their children at Red Oaks.
Nadim Saad, Founder of The Happy Confident Company, said: “We are delighted to work with Red Oaks and the rest of The Park Academies Trust to implement our transformative whole school mental health programme, which requires just 10 minutes per day.
"Through the use of our FEELIT emotional literacy programme, our Happy Confident Me journals and our character skills programme, pupils at Red Oaks will be better equipped to deal with life’s challenges and better able to thrive. We are particularly grateful for Red Oaks’ invaluable input, which is allowing us to take the Happy Confident Schools programme to the next level, adapting it and making it even better for neuro-diverse children.”
Red Oaks Primary's Headteacher, Emily Maxfield, said: "It was great to be able to launch this amazing emotional literacy project during this year's Children's Mental Health Week. We had a lovely event and it was fantastic to see so many parents getting involved and coming along.
"A special thanks goes to our team of mental health ambassadors and to all the staff who do so much to provide a safe and nurturing environment for all of our children. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Happy Confident Company as part of our ongoing Children’s School Development Plan here at Red Oaks."
More information about The Happy Confident Company can be found on its website at https://www.happyconfident.com/
More information about Red Oaks Primary School can be found at https://www.redoaks.org/index.php
More information about Children's Mental Health Week can be found at https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/
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