Supporting Student Wellbeing
The well-being of our students is our number one priority and we have a strong Pastoral team in school, as well as numerous links to external support, who are available to help students and families with any issues they may be facing. Please contact the school or your child's Leader of Year or Pastoral Assistant if you require any help or advice regarding student well-being.
You can find a range of support services for young people on our Student Advice and Resources webpage, which you may find useful
Resilience and Emotional Support Coordinator
Building resilience and supporting the emotional and mental wellbeing of our students is an important part of the pastoral care at Tanbridge.
Mrs Parsonage is our Resilience and Emotional Support Co-ordinator and she works with students who are referred to her by Pastoral Year Leaders, and their teams, for additional emotional and mental health support. Mrs Parsonage works 1-to-1 with students and she uses different methods to support students’ emotional wellbeing, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Working closely with the Pastoral Year Teams, Mrs Parsonage also helps to identify students who may need additional support and offer, or signpost, students to most appropriate help available.
‘I started at Tanbridge House in September 2021 in the new role of Resilience and Emotional Support Coordinator. I have many years of experience working with young people and have worked in both Primary and Secondary schools and also for children’s social care. I studied for my degree with The Open University and a Post Graduate qualification in Children’s Mental Health at Sussex University. My work with young people is very rewarding and interesting, facilitating a change in a young person’s wellbeing is definitely the best part of my job. Knowing that I am making a difference to the lives of young people is both challenging and inspiring.’
Mrs Parsonage.
Advice and Resources for Parents/Carers to support young people
Connect to Support (West Sussex) - support for your own mental health
Cruse Bereavement Care - support and information for anyone bereaved in West Sussex
NHS Recipes for Wellbeing - 'Recipe Cards' offering advice on a range of subjects
NHS Looking after your Child's Mental Health - Useful document offering advice
NHS CAHMS Sussex - Advice on a range of topics which may affect young people
NHS CAHMS Crisis - advice for what to do if someone you know is in immediate crisis
NSPCC - Advice and resources to prevent abuse, help rebuild children's lives and support families.
Papyrus - Advice and support to prevent young suicide
Parenting Smart - Parenting advice from child mental health experts
Self Harm Learning Network - Training sessions for parents/carers re: Self Harm
Supporting your Teenager - presentation given by Educational Psychologist, Audrey Hunt to parents/carers June 22
Sussex Police - Information about Counter Terrorism/Prevent
Useful Organisations (PDF)
West Sussex Wellbeing - support for your own mental health
Youth Emotional Support (YES) Service - free wellbeing support for 11-18 year olds
Your Space West Sussex - Advice and Resources for young people
Your Space - Advice for Parents and Carers
YMCA Right Here - Advice on Mental and Emotional Well-Being for young people
Action your Potential
We wanted to let you know about some exciting and innovative webinars designed to support well-being and learning skills. Andrew from Action Your Potential, an innovative company supporting our work, are running webinars for all of our families.
Find out more here or visit https://www.actionyourpotential.org/
Online Safety
We are increasingly aware of the pressures that the internet can place on young people. We follow a clear ICT Policy at school and we monitor student use of our IT facilities. However, this is not so easy to manage at home, particularly if students have internet access in the privacy of their own bedrooms.
Advice about the use of the internet and staying safe online can be found from a variety of sources - good starting points include:
Whenever your child is online, it is important they know how to keep themselves safe. It is especially important for parents and carers to be aware of what their child is being asked to do online.
If you decide to supplement our school's online offer, with support from online companies and in some cases individual tutors, it is important that you secure any online support from a reputable organisation/individual. It would be expected that they provide evidence that they are safe and can be trusted to have access to children.
In addition, support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online can be found at:
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Thinkuknow provides advice from the National Crime Agency (NCA) on staying safe online
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Parent info is a collaboration between Parentzone and the NCA providing support and guidance for parents from leading experts and organisations
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Childnet offers a toolkit to support parents and carers of children of any age to start discussions about their online life, to set boundaries around online behaviour and technology use, and to find out where to get more help and support
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Internet Matters provides age-specific online safety checklists, guides on how to set parental controls on a range of devices, and a host of practical tips to help children get the most out of their digital world
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Net-aware has support for parents and carers from the NSPCC and O2, including a guide to social networks, apps and games
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Let’s Talk About It has advice for parents and carers to keep children safe from online radicalisation
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UK Safer Internet Centre has tips, advice, guides and other resources to help keep children safe online, including parental controls offered by home internet providers and safety tools on social networks and other online services
Fact Checking
The following sites/resources can help you and your child to fact check what you read online.
UK based (England):
- Full Fact – Charity/Non-Profit fact checker https://fullfact.org/
- Full Fact Whatsapp service - "The next time you see something being shared on Whatsapp that you’re not sure of, you can forward it on and we’ll fact check it for you." 07521 770995
- BBC Reality Check – BBC news service dedicated to clearing up fake news stories and finding the truth https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/reality_check
- The FactCheck Blog by Channel 4 - Goes behind the spin to dig out the truth and separate political fact from fiction.
- https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck
- Shout Out UK – on a mission to protect and amplify democracy by ensuring Political Literacy education is as widespread as possible https://www.shoutoutuk.org/media-literacy/
- CBBC Quiz – Helping young people to spot real or fake news https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/quizzes/real-or-fake-news-quiz
Bullying
Our Anti-Bullying Policy contains information about how the school deals with bullying and works alongside parents/carers to tackle any issues.
The following websites offer excellent advice and resources for anyone concerned about bullying:
ChildLine – 0800 1111 – is the free telephone helpline for children and young people. It is available from anywhere in the UK and provides a confidential telephone counselling service for any child with any problem, 24 hours a day, every day. Since its launch in October 1986, ChildLine has counselled more than one million children. Childline saves children’s lives, brings abusers to justice and finds a safe place for children in danger and on the streets.
Anti-Bullying AllianceThe Anti-Bullying Alliance was founded in 2002 by NCB and the NSPCC. It is an independent body made up of over 60 organisations. Working together to lead the way in reducing bullying and creating safe environments in which children and young people can live, grow, play and learn free from bullying, violence and aggression.
Bullying UK, is a UK charity founded in 1999 by journalist Liz Carnell and her son John. The charity's website has a large amount of information to help pupils, parents and schools deal with bullying.
The Children's Legal Centre is a unique, independent national charity concerned with law and policy affecting children and young people.The Children's Legal Centre has many years of experience in providing legal advice and representation to children, their carers and professionals throughout the UK.
It opened in 1981, as the major UK project for the International Year of the Child, and is staffed by lawyers and professionals with experience in child law. The Centre is funded by grants from Central Government and by charitable trusts.
Kidscape is a National anti-bullying charity set up in the 1980s by Dr Michelle Elliott. Kidscape provides a port of call for worried parents, children, schools and carers. It's an important point of reference on the subject of bullying and also provides practical support, advice and information.
Established in 1963, NCB is a charitable organisation that is dedicated to advancing the health and well-being of all children and young people across every aspect of their lives and providing them with a powerful and authoritative voice.
The NSPCC's purpose is to bring about an end to cruelty to children. With over 150 services, including ChildLine, the NSPCC Helpline, 0808 800 5000, and direct work with abused children and those at risk of abuse, the NSPCC is taking action to put an end to cruelty child-by-child, day-by-day. The NSPCC is creating a society where everybody is doing all they can to prevent abuse from happening and helping children at risk. By working together cruelty to children will stop.
