Report attached.
Contact: Kerry Simmonds, Deputy Headteacher, Market Drayton Infants School

Kerry Simmonds, the Deputy Head, Market Drayton Infants School introduced and amplified her report – copy attached to the signed Minutes – which provided an overview of the Wellbeing Award being completed at Market Drayton Infant and Nursery School.  She also gave a presentation, which covered the following areas:

·         Background

·         Impact so far

·         Everyone’s responsibility – how to make this happen

·         The curriculum

·         Parental involvement

·         Resilience and prevention

·         Staff wellbeing

·         Collaboration beyond the school

·         Conclusion

The Deputy Head explained that wellbeing was key for children and families and that she worked with a lot of different people within the school including the school nurse, caretaker, cook, mental health lead, SENCO etc.  She explained how wellbeing had been linked to the curriculum and that all schools within the Academy had wellbeing as a priority. 

They were the only school in Shropshire that had undertaken the Optimus award but they felt that it was crucial to get wellbeing right at the earliest opportunity in order to achieve the best results and impact for their children.  The Deputy Head reported that an interim assessment of their work towards the award was taking place the following day.

The Deputy Head drew attention to the impact so far which included changing the ethos in the school so that wellbeing became everyone’s responsibility.  Parental engagement had also seen a big change with 95% of parents currently engaged.

The Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services praised the excellent work being done at Market Drayton Infant and Nursery School and wondered how best to get this into every school.  In response, the Director of Public Health confirmed that this could be looked at to see how roll out could be supported. The STP Programme Director was very impressed with the enthusiasm shown but stressed the need to link what was being done with Ofsted.  In response, the Deputy Head reported that wellbeing was important to Ofsted as it was recognised that by getting wellbeing right at an early age this would bring long term benefits as the children moved up to the Junior School.

The Chairman felt that the support being provided to parents was very important.  He commented that he would be very interested to hear back on the sleep work that was currently being undertaken in order to more fully understand its impact on learning.

RESOLVED:  To note the information and progress of the Wellbeing Award and the work being completed for children and young people in Shropshire.