An important consideration at Exmouth Community College is looking after the Mental Health of both our students and our staff.

At Exmouth Community College, our aim is to support young people so that they develop into resilient and rounded individuals with the self-awareness to recognise when things are not going well. The work we are doing will also give our students self-help strategies so that they take responsibility for their own wellbeing and will know where to go to, should they need to seek further help.

‘We all have ‘mental health’. Everybody is sad at times, everybody gets moody, everybody has good days, or bad days, or feels anxious before an exam, or devastated by bereavement or divorce. These are normal emotional responses. And it’s a good thing that social media can be used to seek support, or admit that you feel down, or anxious. Awareness of mental health problems has gone up, however it is important to distinguish between normal emotions that make us feel human, and the conditions that are clinical and require treatment.
 

We believe having a mentally healthy community is not about being happy all the time, but about working together through the challenges and sharing the celebrations; feeling supported, heard, accepted, valued and empowered.

• Exmouth Community College is committed to promoting and protecting emotional wellbeing and mental health in our whole school community. We strive to create an environment which has a whole school approach in providing excellent support, understanding and intervention for all individuals in order to maintain their positive wellbeing and mental health. We put wellbeing at the heart of our school to ensure successful learning and commit our policies reflecting this.

Our vision is for all our students, staff and community to have the support they need to build lifelong coping skills and thrive. We will make this happen by:

• Understanding the different types of emotional and mental health needs across the school and have systems in place to respond appropriately
• Actively promoting students and staff emotional wellbeing and mental health
• Have a positive culture which regards emotional wellbeing and mental health as the responsibility of all
• Increasing opportunities to engage in the evidence based 'five ways to wellbeing' model 1) Connect 2) Be active 3) Take notice 4) Keep learning 5) Give to others
• Developing the curriculum and teaching, learning and assessment methods to optimise mental health and wellbeing, recognising neurodiversity, while maintaining academic standards.