Children's Mental Health

At Pakefield Primary School we ensure children learn about their mental health, what this is, means, how and where to get help. At Pakefield, we want to ensure our children and families have the best knowledge and tools to help them achieve and maintain good mental health and know how and where they can get help if they need it.  This will allow our children to fully thrive and achieve their ambitions. 

This year we are relaunching our CHIMP program - Children’s Health is Mental and Physical. We worked together with our ALT North Suffolk family of schools, (Red Oak Primary School, Westwood Primary, Albert Pye Primary, Ravensmere Infants, Grove Primary and Reydon Primary School), and children from the school councils helped to devise the CHIMP program which helps to create a positive lifestyle approach that supports our mental health and wellbeing. 

We decided what was of most importance and these are the key areas that we believe are key to supporting good mental health and wellbeing: 

Emotions 
Sleep 
Physical activity 
Eat and drink healthily 
Screen time 
Talk time and positive interactions 
Managing positive friendships 
Hobbies

As a school we will be working on these over the year through circle time, assemblies and within our daily curriculum offer.  Throughout the year we will also have awareness days or weeks where more focus will be placed on mental health. 
 

At Pakefield Primary we use Zones of Regulation to support emotional development and self – regulation. It categorises different emotional states into four colour-coded zones.

Blue Zone (Low energy, sad, or tired):

This zone represents feelings like sadness, boredom, tiredness, or being sick. When in the Blue Zone, a person might feel down or unmotivated. They may need rest or something to help lift their mood.

Green Zone (Calm, happy, focused):

This is the "good to go" zone. It represents calmness, happiness, focus, and feeling in control. Being in the Green Zone means a person can focus, engage in activities, and interact with others in a positive and regulated way.

Yellow Zone (Elevated emotions, anxious, excited):

The Yellow Zone is for when a person is starting to lose control of their emotions or energy. They might feel anxious, excited, or frustrated but are still able to think clearly and regain control. This zone suggests a need for strategies to calm down before emotions escalate further.

Red Zone (Out of control, angry, aggressive):

The Red Zone represents intense emotions like anger, rage, or panic. In this zone, a person may feel overwhelmed and out of control. It often leads to disruptive behaviour, and it's important to use strategies to de-escalate and regain emotional regulation.

The Zones of Regulation helps individuals identify which zone they are in, understand the impact of their emotions, and learn appropriate strategies to move toward the Green Zone, where they can be most effective and in control.

Each child self-registers each morning, identifying which zone they are in each day, staff and peers take a collective responsibility in supporting each other to regulate and find ways to be green.

https://youtu.be/zZ9X-d3oZvQ

The Senior Mental Health Lead is – Mrs Rachel Carman

The Mental Health First Aider is – Mrs S Bacon

If you would like any further information, please speak to Mrs Carman or Mrs Rodwell, or alternatively take a look at the following websites. 

What is mental health?

This video helps parents and school staff explain what mental health is to children.

Please click on images to get to the following websites:

Wellbeing Hub

Just One Norfolk

Young Minds are committed to improving children's wellbeing and mental health. Discover information, advice & support for young people affected by mental health. Empowering Young People.

If you're worried about a child or need advice and support for coping with anything affecting your child's emotional or mental health, there are different ways to seek help.