At ACS, we believe that a great education needs to be balanced
That is why we celebrate academic achievement alongside social, physical, and emotional wellbeing. Our wellbeing strategy is based on a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing, and sets out our commitment to the wellbeing of everyone in our school communities.
The wellbeing of our school community runs through all elements of the school’s Expected School-wide Learning Outcomes and is one of the four themes of the ACS Education Strategy, which identifies the prioritisation of health, safety, and wellbeing in our schools as an essential component.
There is seemingly no trade-off between wellbeing and academic performance. Put simply: happier young people make better learners.
Student Wellbeing
ACS Student Wellbeing Triangles
Wellbeing Ambassadors
Mental Health
Monitoring
Wellbeing in and outside the classroom
Resources
Teacher wellbeing has a significant impact on the wellbeing and academic success of students.
Staff wellbeing
The Health and Safety Executive has noted teaching as a high-stress profession.
At ACS, our Human Resources team leads on wellbeing initiatives across all staff groups to ensure that managers are committed to helping all our staff understand the importance emotional health and wellbeing, learn about and use strategies and techniques to promote positive emotional health and wellbeing, and develop self-directed approaches to stress management.
ACS provides formal clinical supervision for Safeguarding, Counselling, and Pastoral Care staff who are responsible for supporting student mental health, as well as coaching and professional guidance from designated group leaders for Safeguarding and school nursing. Our Employee Assistance Programme is available to all ACS staff, providing 24/7 clinically-led guidance and Life Management support.
Resources
Family interactions are very impactful on the wellbeing of young people and, for children in particular, they are the most significant driver
Family wellbeing
Supporting student wellbeing is a partnership with parents and carers and is vitally important for the best care of the young people in the ACS community.
ACS recognises that our families want to support children’s mental health at home and ensures our parents can easily share concerns, and access information and ideas for positive mental health through our school support networks. Where appropriate, ACS supports families in accessing the support of outside providers.
Individual schools highlight sources of information and support about common health and wellbeing issues on the parent pages of their school intranet.
Parents are surveyed on the happiness of their child/ren at school as part of the ACS parent survey and all ACS families have access to The Wellbeing Hub, a trusted source of support designed by experts to meet the social, emotional, and educational needs of young people.
