Healthy Mind Champions

At Brightside Nursery Infant School, we have been engaging with the Healthy Minds Project in Sheffield. Healthy Minds puts emotional resilience at the heart of children’s health and wellbeing and recognises its impact on learning, behaviour and attainment. By providing a stable, nurturing and protective environment, we can help children learn how to regulate their emotions and develop healthy relationships with peers and school staff. These abilities will have a huge impact on their emotional resilience and satisfaction with their lives.

Sally Hornsby is our Education Mental Health Practitioner and is in school on Tuesdays between 12:30pm - 3:30pm. She will be supporting the children in emotions groups as well as supporting the school with Healthy Minds.

Mrs Danielle Jenkins-Omar is our Designated Safeguarding Lead who supports the schools Healthy Minds Champions and meets with them regularly.

For more information about the Healthy Minds Project please click here.

2024-2025

Autumn term

This half term pupils put their names forward to be Healthy Minds Champions and were nominated by the class.

We have met twice during October to discuss what a Healthy Minds Champion is. The children gave some great ideas on how we can help our friends in school and they have been lunchtime monitors this half term supporting the use of our newly painted friendship bench.

During autumn 2 half term our Healthy Minds Champions are going to be designing kindness posters for antibullying week and looking at friendships, what makes a good friend and how can we support each other in school. We are linking this to the zones of regulation and strategies we can use.

2023-2024

Autumn term

October - During the month of October our classes spoke about what Healthy Minds is and the children put themselves forward to become a Healthy Minds Champion

November - Our Healthy Minds Champions have met to talk about what makes a good Healthy Minds Champion, what makes a good friend and how we can support each other during lunch and playtime. The children came up with some great suggestions about how we can be kind, caring and helpful to one another. This month the Healthy Minds Champions will monitor lunchtimes to see how we can make these even better! So far the children have supported others to use our friendship bench and be games mentors. Great job Healthy Minds Champions!

December - on the 1st of December our Healthy Minds Champions started talking about coping strategies and learnt about finger breathing and 5 senses grounding techniques. Our group practiced these and spoke about different times we might use them such as feeling angry or worried. Throughout this month we are going to continue learning about different coping strategies and linking these with the zones of regulation.

Spring Term

January - This month our Healthy Minds Champions are focusing on the zones of regulation to help us identify our feelings and look at different strategies to manage these. We have been talking to each other about the different zones- red, blue, yellow and green. The children have been fantastic so far at discussing different feelings and putting these in the correct zones. This half term we are running a health minds lunch club for different children to access and support each other.

February- Throughout February our healthy minds champions have been discussing what makes a good friend and how we can help keep each other happy and safe in school. Our healthy minds champions have been working together with our lunchtime games mentors so everyone has a friend to play with during unstructured times. Well done everyone.

March- This month we are focusing on friendships in school. We are exploring what makes a good friend, how we can help others when they are sad and how we can better our playground friendships, including designing our friendship bench. Keep your eyes peeled!

Summer Term

April- After returning from the Easter break our healthy minds champions have been focussing on emotions and how different feeling affect our bodies. In May school Education Mental Health Practitioner, Sally Hornsby, will be running an emotions group and our healthy minds champions will work alongside this.

May-  This month our Healhy Minds Champions have been looking at who and what is important in our lives. The have discussed who is important in their world, the emotions we feel about them and how others can impact how we feel. Next half term we will be preparing for transitions exploring the different emotions in this process and strategies we can use to support ourselves and each other. 

June and July- We have been looking at transition as it comes to the end of the school year. The children have been discussing what they are excited about and what they are worried about moving year groups or schools, then supporting each other to manage their emotions.

Well done to all the Healthy Minds Champions for their amazing work and contribution this year!

We continue to use 'the Zones of Regulation' in school.  It's working really well and helping children realise when they are ready to learn or need help to get them in their learning zone.  

Children use colours to let us know how their feeling: 

Red - feeling really big emotions - angry, really upset or really scared.

Yellow - feeling excited, wriggly or worried.

Green - just right - where we want children to be - feeling calm, ready to learn, ok, content, in their thinking brain.

Blue - feeling slow, bored, poorly, sad, tired, switched off or in their own little world.

We've also been using some mindfulness techniques to help children calm down and return to GREEN and be ready to learn.  Please see pictures below for more information.