PUPIL WELLBEING SUPPORT

At Northway, every child from Y1 to Y6 has a log in to our online wellbeing platform - ZUMOS.

ZUMOS has been designed for young people to give direct and private access to information, help and support for their mental wellbeing. It helps pupils to better understand themselves and gives positive steps to take to help improve how they feel as well as providing real life strategies for coping with tricky situations they may encounter.

The content on ZUMOS has been designed by a range of mental health professionals and has the CAMHS (Children & Adolescent Mental Health Service) mark. ZUMOS can be accessed from any device that has internet access. During this week, your child will be introduced to the ZUMOS platform and taught how to log in. Your child’s log in details will be in their reading record. You can access ZUMOS on www.zumos.co.uk.

Once in their private area, there are many options to explore:

A Games Zone: this area has games to play to help pupils feel happy, along with fun quizzes to complete.

A Chill Zone: this area has guided breathing activities and visualisations for children to practise mindfulness – a lifelong skill to use when feeling worried or anxious. It is recommended that this area is used daily to practise those key skills. When pupils experience worries, they will be able to apply the skills they learn here.

A Worry Box: this is an online message system for children to send a message to their teacher. These will be monitored by teachers during the working day and are only for pupils to use. Any parents who have a concern, should continue to contact class teachers via the admin email or main office.

Your child’s room: this area is the self-help area of the platform. In here are short audio clips that children can select to help them in different situations. Teachers can add audio clips to whole classes or individuals tool kits, if they require specific support.

Life book: this is an area for children to complete a daily life journal to help them reflect on the positives in their day. It can be a great help for pupils to look back on their life book to see the positive times they have had.

We use  ZUMOS in school everyday for children to rate their feelings and also to listen to the daily ‘How to be Happy’ audio message. These have a different theme each day and children are given actions to try out. We also use the Chill Room in our classrooms to practise our mindfulness.

We hope that you will explore ZUMOS with your child and encourage them to use it on a daily basis. There is a lot of research built into the design of the platform and regular use, over 8 weeks, has demonstrated improvements in pupils’ positivity and self-esteem.

Listening School

ZUMOS compliments the extensive work we already do in supporting children’s wellbeing. Adults in school are always available to talk individually with children when they need it. Each class has a #wishmyteacherknew area, in which children are able to send notes to the adults in class or arrange a time to talk. This is used to share positive news and also a time to share any worries. Every week we also hold a ‘Listening School’ session in which children can pop into a designated classroom to chat to a teacher. It is a chilled space where pupils can chat and share their thoughts and feelings. Sharing and talking about how we feel is a key message we share.

Learning about Wellbeing

Our PSHE curriculum is very well developed and built into this is our One Decision units. These cover all aspects of PSHE and relationship education and give children the chance to explore scenarios and decide on an option – what would they do? Having the chance to see both the positive and negative outcomes really helps children to understand and make informed choices in their own lives.

Feeling like you’re part of a community, significantly improves your mental health. This is something that is at the heart of our ethos. Our school teams, linked to our school values, really help our children to feel part of something bigger than themselves –to feel part of something is a really special feeling! We find as many ways as possible to build our community spirit in our children so they feel that ‘buzz’ from helping others such as: our buddy class work, Y6 prefects, School Council, Digital Leaders, Art Champs, PE Leads, Team Captains, History Heroes. Not to mention the whole school events we hold to bring us together - these help us to feel like one big family!

Mental wellbeing is at the core of what we do and we hope that you find the new platform useful. If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s mental wellbeing, please do not hesitate in contacting your child’s class teacher via the school office or admin email.

Below are some more links to some online games or advice that you might want to look at to help you develop your managing emotions skills.

Click on the logos to get to the websites! 

Click on the Childline logo for some further advice and support: 

Try out some breathing exercises and games at the calm zone. 

Play a game to distract yourself and take your mind off any worries!

Apps you might want to ask permission to download:

Chill Panda is an app you can play fun games and calming activities:

This app has daily meditation and mindfulness activities