Student Wellbeing
The school supports its students not only academically, but also pastorally in their emotional and social wellbeing.
Every child meets their tutor in their small tutor group daily, and the tutor should be the first port of call for queries.
Every child is a member of one of five Houses, which contributes to making a big school feel small and intimate. Each House has its own Learning Coach. In addition to this, we have our Inclusion team who work alongside the House teams and outside agencies to support our students with their emotional and social needs.
It is widely recognised that a child’s emotional health and wellbeing influence their cognitive development and learning, as well as their physical and social health and their mental wellbeing in adulthood.
Oxted School aims to support each student’s emotional health and wellbeing as part of our desire to nurture mind, body and spirit.
As a staff, we approach this in various ways, including through our pastoral support system, tutorial programmes and PSHE lessons. We know the benefits of positive mental health and research has shown that children and young people with good mental health:
- Do better at school.
- Develop good relationships with friends and family.
- Learn and play appropriately for their age and understanding.
- Develop a sense of right and wrong.
- Learn from their experiences.
- Have the confidence to try new things.
- Develop resilience to face life challenges.
The Department for Education recognises that to help pupils succeed, schools have a role to play in supporting them to be resilient and mentally healthy.
Mental health is a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.
– World Health Organisation, 2014
We also offer the following additional clubs/support groups to those who need it:
- A friends club run by Year 12 and Year 13 students to support younger students.
- A homework club that runs at lunchtime and breaks.
- A Christian Union Group.
- An LGBT Group.
- Wellbeing Booklist – all books available from the school library.
For additional information on outside agencies that could help and support families and young people, please visit the pages linked below.