THE EVELINE DAY SCHOOL

Many of our children have an extended day and we have worked hard as a school to create a home away from home. Wellbeing is at the heart of everything that we do and by creating a safe and supportive environment, in which to learn, we feel the children will flourish and achieve at their best. By supporting our staff and parents we show how we value the individual. Within that context, we work to address any issues of bullying, anxiety, bereavement or major life changes. We work with parents to ensure the emotional, psychological and physical wellbeing of the children and the children are encouraged to talk to adults and communicate any worries or fears that they may have. Any child who is experiencing a particularly challenging time is offered “Shine Time” a therapeutic time with our pastoral lead. Classes also have Circle Time to address issues and to help them develop empathy, and emotional literacy. Physical activity is valued as a part of the mental and physical health of the children and early morning sports are on offer. As mentioned, we recognise that staff wellbeing is an essential part of our school delivering high quality teaching and education to our children. Everyone works better, delivers more and has greater impact when their wellbeing is valued and addressed. The areas of staff workload, support, structure, control, relationships and change are effectively addressed. Staff have generous non-contact time in which to prepare, mark and evaluate their work. The roles of staff are clear and, being a small school, staff can be flexible in the area of extra-curricular support. There is a strong ethos of collegial support amongst the staff and this is reflected in the positive relationships that are evident. Staff retention is not an issue at the Eveline Day School and staff tend to stay for many years. Staff are provided with the opportunities for training and courses, which enhance their professional development. Senior management is always accessible to the staff so that they may discuss any concerns they have. Staff are given the opportunity to discuss any changes to routines with senior management and have their ideas and input valued. Staff have a high level of personal control in their planning of lessons and the timetable is full and complex but managed well by all. By ensuring that we provide high quality care and education we enable parents to feel confident that their children will achieve and be happy at school and this contributes to their sense of wellbeing. We are aware that life presents our parents with challenges and endeavour to be supportive of parental needs. Parents are offered the opportunity for parent coaching or personal counselling.