Wellbeing & Student Support

Students need to feel supported, confident, safe and happy to be able to thrive and excel within education. Across the whole school we aim to support students to achieve their best educationally, socially and emotionally. Life can be uncertain and varied at times and everyone needs someone or somewhere to turn for some extra support or advice - and here at BIC we aim to do this with as much care as possible. 

For our students, we recognise that children’s mental health is a crucial factor in their overall wellbeing and can affect their learning and achievement. Here at BIC, we take a whole school approach to promoting positive mental health that aims to help children become more resilient, happy and successful. We aim to help our students develop positive relationships, support each other and seek help when they need it. We value their voice and have created a variety of forums so they are heard, valued and empowered. As a school we have also put in place increased contact opportunities for some students who are vulnerable or those who are struggling to engage with school work.

At BIC we aim to:

• help children to understand their emotions and feelings better;

• help children feel comfortable sharing any concerns or worries;

• help children socially to form and maintain relationships;

• promote self-esteem and ensure children know that they are important;

• encourage children to be confident and ‘dare to be different’;

At BIC, our approach to ensuring wellbeing is to:

• provide a safe environment to enable students to express themselves and be listened to;

• ensure the welfare and safety of students as paramount;

• identify appropriate support for students based on their needs;

• involve parents and carers when their child needs support;

• involve students in the care and support they have;

• monitor, review and evaluate the support with students and keep parents and carers updated.

At BIC, we promote a mentally healthy environment through:

• promoting our school values and encouraging a sense of belonging;

• promoting student voice and opportunities to participate in decision-making;

• celebrating academic and non-academic achievements;

• providing opportunities to develop a sense of worth through taking responsibility for themselves and others;

• providing opportunities to reflect;

• access to appropriate support that meets their needs.

We pursue our aims through:

• universal, whole school approaches;

• support for students going through recent difficulties including bereavement;

• specialised, targeted approaches aimed at students with more complex or long-term difficulties.

The skills, knowledge and understanding needed by our students to keep themselves mentally healthy and safe are included as part of our developmental PSHE curriculum. Activities will include:

• Circle Time approaches or ‘circle of friends’ activities;

• targeted use of PSHE resources;

• managing feelings resources;

• mental health and wellbeing groups;

• therapeutic activities and relaxation and mindfulness techniques.

Assembly themes will also encompass emotions, feelings and special occasions and themes.

We recognise that working with our parents, including providing opportunities to develop knowledge and understanding around emotional wellbeing and mental health is important. At BIC we aim to achieve this by developing a parent monthly event calendar and by conducting online and in-person parent workshops. Our 'Friends of the School' parent group has continued its work by organising events and providing a valuable line of communication between staff and parents.

E-Safety at BIC

Here at BIC we place strong emphasis on eSafety and how to empower our students to use the internet in a smart and informed way.

In order to help our students, the school must work in conjunction with our parents and students to make sure that we can all be consistent in how we prepare our students to make good choices with technology and the internet.

We commit to:

• Creating a safe environment for students to learn online in school.
• Raising awareness of social media issues, how to deal with these and how to make good choices when using technology in and beyond the classroom.
• Using technology wisely and effectively to transform and enhance learning

Here are some useful resources for parents for safe use of the internet:

• Duck Duck Go can be used for safe internet searches.
• LogOut is a company that specialises in helping children and adults that use the Internet extensively or are already addicted.
• Useful eSafety tips for Parents with Primary school children.

BIC, Sant Agustí House System

At BIC, Sant Agustí we have a special school feature, called House system. The idea behind the House system is that there is a vertical and even split of students of all ages in each of our four Houses - Wolves, Lions, Leopards, and Eagles.

A sense of inclusion and engagement in a common enterprise can have academic benefits as well as social-emotional ones, and our House System was developed to promote a positive and inclusive culture at BIC, Sant Agustí a caring and supportive environment where all students are welcome and valued, and can demonstrate loyalty allegiance while contributing to the success of their House.

The benefits of the whole school House System include:

• The system is inclusive of all learners and includes sporting, academic and artistic endeavours.
• Promotes positive self-esteem , self-identity, belonging, integrity, teamwork and pride amongst all students.
• Peer support to help promote positive mental health and develop a common goal between school staff and students.
• Promotion of student responsibility and student voice, cooperation, communication and leadership skills.
• Skills valued for job applications and better preparation for future employment.
• Constant and consistent encouragement for students to achieve their best.

Houses compete against each other in a friendly environment. We trust the older children in each House to look out for the younger ones, enabling them to benefit by learning leadership and organizational skills themselves.

When a child joins BIC, Sant Agustí they become a member of a particular House. On their first day, your child will be assigned to one of the four houses and the fun journey will begin.