The well-being staff and area aims to support the emotional and mental well-being needs of all children and young people, as well as school staff, as part of the whole-school community. It also recognises that the school alone cannot meet all the needs of what is a complex population of young people, whose needs will vary as they progress through infancy to adolescence and early adulthood. It is not about medicalising well-being; rather it is about taking account of the continuum of need. Primarily it is about building resilience and ensuring preventative action.

However, there is also a need to recognise the signs and address poor well-being when it arises and to ensure effective support for schools and the learner when a learner experiences more severe distress. Staff well-being is also central to the school, recognising the link between learner well-being and the well-being of the adults they have frequent contact with.

Effective learning is most likely to occur in an environment where all are engaged. The whole-school approach seeks to support good emotional and mental well-being by promoting a positive cultural environment in schools, where children and young people form positive relationships with staff and other learners, and relationships are strengthened:

• between teaching staff

• with the school senior leadership team and wider school staff

• with parents and carers

• with other professionals working with the school

• with the wider community that surrounds the school.

It is about embedding good well-being through teaching as well as all the other aspects of school life.

It is an ethos that:

• values inclusion, where everybody works together, contributing their individual skills and resources to the collective good

• creates a supportive environment where young people are encouraged to fulfil their personal and academic potential, where they thrive, learn and emotionally develop, supported by teachers who operate in a culture that equally values their own well-being.