Mental Health and Wellbeing Quality Mark

The feedback we received from the review panel about our approach to mental health and wellbeing really captures the excellent work the team here at Olveston do:

‘The culture and values of the school have shone through in our discussions and via the evidence supplied. And I loved how you celebrate students’ personal development in a variety of ways including through your website and via the Bridge Award programme.’

‘The evidence shows that the Whole School Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing is well embedded in school from SLT to pupils. The school development plan shows in the last few years Olveston CEVC Primary has further developed their relational approach, this can be seen throughout behaviour policies and wider school plans.  It is great to see Olveston CEVC Primary is using local resources to complement their approach for example using the EBSA and Belonging toolkits as part of their mental health action plan.’

‘Olveston CEVC primary, so much hard work has been put into your whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing and that has shone through in your evidence. It is clearly embedded showing a commitment to continue and evolve your whole school approach to meet your school communities needs going forward.’

‘Olveston CEVC primary school are very clearly a significant way into their passionately and effectively lead, coherent, value-driven, and consistent journey to develop, nurture, and nourish all aspects of health, wellbeing, and thriving within the whole school community. A such, I feel they have demonstrated effective evidence of having met the Mental Health and Wellbeing award criteria.

For me, there is clear evidence of what can truly be described as a ‘whole-school approach’. The strongest testament to this is the coherence and consistency with which the contents of the School Development Plan are so evident in all the ‘day-to-day’ operations of the school; the website; Policies; high expectations across every element of school life; the development and synchronisation of the curriculum; parent engagement; staff CPD; new systems for strengthening the influence of pupils voice; and creative ways of recognising and celebrating pupil achievements. Perhaps most pleasing were the references to the fact that, although you are still in year 2 of the current SDP, now has been identified as the time to begin the process of reviewing successes and planning next steps – more evidence that the school is on ‘a journey’.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Action Plan is a particularly robust and strong feature of the submission, and it is fantastic to see how you have begun using and embedding the Belonging and EBSA toolkits into your work.

At a time when financial pressures on schools are significant, it is testament to the level of importance placed on developing your whole-school approach that significant investment has been made in things like Mental Health leadership and support roles, additional measures to reduce or manage teacher workload, staff CPD, outdoor learning provision (Forest School).’