Mental health and wellbeing
Childhood is an important time to instil healthy habits and learn crucial life skills. Establishing these habits early on will help to improve your child's future quality of life and enable them to reach their full potential in education and beyond.
This page is designed to give parents and carers information and to advise where additional help can be sought.
School Nurse Services
School Health Nurses are available to support children/ young people in Oxfordshire with any health concerns.
Naomi Hart
Mobile 07825 843695
Email naomi.hart@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk
Working hours 9:00am – 3:00pm, Monday to Friday, term time only
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)
Oxfordshire CAMHS offers a single point of access for parents / carers, who have concerns around mental health. Should you have any concerns about a young person, CAMHS help children, young people and their families who are experiencing mental health difficulties.
If you feel you need further support or want to make a referral, please call 01865 902 515, or for more information visit:
Health Visiting / School Health Nursing Message Service
It is possible to get support or advice via text message:
ParentLine 0-4 years: Text 07312 263 081
ParentLine 5-11 years: Text 07312 263 227
Smartphone free childhood
For any parents considering getting their child a mobile phone, the Smartphone free childhood website has a wealth of information around how to navigate this decision and the impact that Smartphones have on children and teenagers.
There is no denying there are many positive aspects of technology, but there is now a large amount of research that supports delaying the age at which children are given unrestricted access to social media and the internet.
By understanding the implications and grouping together with other parents, it's possible to buck the trend and avoid certain kids being alienated from their peers. Smartphones expose children to harmful content, raise the likelihood of developing a mental illness and are highly addictive, but it's possible to change the norm, as childhood is too short to spend it on a smartphone.
Nixon and Nixon Flex-it Workshop
Thank you to all of the parents who attended the Nixon & Nixon workshop about the Flex-It! approach. We have launched Flex-It! across the whole school and the children will be using the Flex-It! tool three times during the school day (feel it, tap it, breathe it, move it). If you are interested in finding out more please email the school office on office.3254@trinity.oxon.sch.uk.
Young Minds
The Young Minds website offers support to parents about young people's mental health, mood and behaviour. Practical advice and information about their parent helpline can be found under the parents section of the website.
Getting enough sleep
Sleep is essential for our health. A good night's sleep can boost our mood, reduce stress and help with anxiety. The recommended times for your children, according to Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (2020), are:
- Children 3 to 5 years - 10 to 13 hours including naps
- Children 6 to 12 years - 9 to 12 hours
Stress Awareness Campaign
This awareness campaign highlights the need for small, consistent actions to reduce stress and contribute to overall well-being. These actions can be as small as prioritising your sleep, or being outside in nature, but doing these activities regularly to help you balance out the stresses and strains of every day life. Young people (and adults) report being more stressed than ever, by demands of school, work, impact of health/mental health, family life, financial concerns etc, so developing healthy ways of coping is vital. There are free resources for staff on The Stress Management Society Website and a useful guide for young people can be found here.
Loneliness in Young People
Loneliness Awareness week highlights the problems around loneliness, especially on emotional and mental health. Young people ages 16-24 are reported to be the loneliest age group but least likely to take action to help themselves.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has put together information as part of the Better Health - Every Mind Matters campaign, which can be found on the here and more information on Loneliness Awareness week can be found here. Both of these websites contain useful information for young people, and toolkits to reduce loneliness.
Parent webinars
Thames Valley Police are running free sessions for parents to learn about safeguarding young people online:
Cyber Choices sessions will look at how we can help to safeguard young people from committing computer misuse offences, and why this needs to happen. Sessions can be booked via this link: Eventbrite
The Cyber Protect Team are running separate webinars for parents and carers, with a focus on protecting children from online threats. These sessions can be booked here: Eventbrite
These sessions last around an hour and are totally FREE to attend. They are aimed at parents/carers of a wide range of children/young people, from KS2 pupils (7-8 year olds) right up to college/uni students (18+).
CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) have a series of parent webinars on a range of mental health topics to support their young people. Nearly 800 parents have attended CAMHS' webinars so far with some really positive feedback and ideas for future sessions.
The full range of webinars can be accessed here where parents can register for any sessions they would like to attend. These are open to any parent or carer in Oxfordshire, regardless of what school their child attends.