Health and Wellbeing Board delighted to support school’s Wellbeing Award

Kerry Simmons, Deputy Headteacher of Market Drayton Infant and Nursery School and Ros Jagoe, School Nurse, brought a paper to Shropshire’s Health and Wellbeing Board recently, which detailed the school’s Wellbeing Award.

The Board is delighted to have been able to facilitate this.

At the meeting Kerry Simmons and Ros Jagoe explained the school had decided to complete the award, as wellbeing was a main focus on the School Improvement Plan, and because there is full commitment to promoting and protecting the emotional wellbeing and mental health of the whole school community.

An informative presentation was given, which explained: background to the project, how the impact so far was demonstrating increasing levels of children and staff satisfaction, the importance of parental involvement and what had been done, the role of staff wellbeing, and building resilience for children as well as staff.

This was warmly received by Board members and generated much discussion and interest, and the Board wished every success for completion of the award at the end of the Spring Term.

Lee Chapman, co-chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board, and Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for organisational transformation and digital infrastructure, said:

“It is always encouraging to hear about proactive health and wellbeing work happening in our communities, especially in schools. The Board was impressed by the energy, enthusiasm and commitment Market Drayton Infant and Nursery School has demonstrated with this award, and we were pleased to support this work through the paper being brought to the meeting.”

Sam Scott, Headteacher, said:

“The award has enabled our school to be clear about how we can adapt our existing working practices to ensure all stakeholders feel confident enough to talk about their own wellbeing. There has been a change team within the school to drive the work forward, and over the last 12 months we have seen a positive impact for children, families and staff. Reducing the stigma of mental health and enabling all parties to be open and honest can only raise the wellbeing of the staff and, over time, children’s academic abilities. Getting wellbeing right and having a good understanding of this is key to the aims of our school.”

One of the school’s favourite additions to the school is the school dog, Roly:- 

Roly, Market Drayton Infant and Nursery School’s school dog.