Wellbeing Working Group
Rationale for the Northern Schools Trust Wellbeing Group
All schools in the Northern Schools Trust seek to transform the life chances of the young people in their care and the families that surround them. This often requires going above and beyond the expectations of a normal job role – teachers forge productive and often involved relationships with their students and manage often complex roles and demands that if not managed carefully can result in stress and burnout. Support staff too are managing a climate of change and financial stringency. Schools are demanding places to work and require a proactive approach to wellbeing.
With this in mind, the NST wellbeing group has been meeting in order to meet the challenge of developing: a set of policies and practices that support the wellbeing and engagement of all NST staff so that they can deliver the best possible futures for the children and young people in their care. It is our mission to make the NST the best place to work for all colleagues.
Using approaches such as Appreciative Inquiry and research based positive psychology approaches we have developed a set of principles and a series of recommendations to inform future planning, policy and practice both within individual schools and at a Trust level.
During our sessions in 2015-16 we agreed a set of 6 Principles for Improving Wellbeing in NST Schools to help us all feel good and function well:
- Happy people are more effective people: we believe that happiness leads to success (and not the reverse) so we want to encourage staff and students to be well and happy.
- We want to create a positive mental attitude and approach in staff so that this transfers to students.
- We encourage all colleagues to consider the wellbeing of themselves and others in their daily actions and interactions.
- All colleagues, each school and The Northern Schools Trust are committed to being proactive to support wellbeing.
- All NST schools provide enriching opportunities beyond the classroom to improve wellbeing.
- There is a well-established sense of community across NST schools and we can build on this to improve wellbeing.
Successful outcomes of the NST Wellbeing Group in 2016-17
| Status | |
| HR to publish summaries of how we support family life and life work balance within the new policy framework eg entitlements and expectations | Completed |
| Dignity at work policy to be shared at briefing in all schools as this encourages colleagues to resolve conflict early | Completed |
| Induction: the good practice established at NLA to be disseminated so that there is a structured programme of induction that focuses on early and regular contact pre-joining and includes an induction review at the end of the first month | Completed |
| Talent management process established to dovetail with CPD opportunities as NST processes evolve | Completed |
| Recognition and reward systems to be promoted in each school – eg teachers of the term/Star of the week (UTC); 100% attendance draw | Completed |
| Successful Cross Trust programme of events to organised and publicised by events team for 2016-17: Badminton; NST choir; 5 a side football; Cross Trust Christmas party | Completed |
| Each school or the NST to organise a wellbeing week, and/or ongoing opportunities for health checks, mindfulness sessions, yoga, | Completed |
| HR roadshows to publicise the support that already exists under our policies eg occupational health and counselling | Completed |
| Peer to peer support structures to be considered in individual schools eg Studio introducing Peer Coaching model eg Peer coaching introduced in The Studio | Ongoing |
| Extension of regular supervision for Inclusion teams to all schools | Ongoing |
| NST to subscribe to a counselling line that offers 24 hour access to support services | Completed |
| Wellbeing group to continue to meet each cycle next year and to develop evaluation tools for us to assess impact using the table below as a starting point. | Completed |
The Priorities for the NST Wellbeing Group in 2017-18 are:
- To continue the raise the profile of Wellbeing and the Wellbeing Group in the policies and practices of all schools
- To build on the successful workshops that form part of NST Cross Trust CPD
- To successfully complete the Wellbeing Charter in each of our Trust Schools
Meeting Schedule
| Date and Time | School | Priorities | |
| Development plan for this year and organisation of events | |||
| Term 2 | Thursday 9th November 2017
4pm – 5pm |
CUC | Launch
Staff survey and focus groups. Planning wellbeing events for CPD day and within schools. Review of successes and action planning for this year. Identifying Health and Wellbeing Champion for each school to guide the audit and action planning process Communication of wellbeing opportunities new and old eg cycle to work; counselling/advice line; counselling; OH; financial and pension advice. |
| Term 3 | Thursday 18th January 2018
4pm – 5pm |
NLA | Wellbeing Charter preparation
Leadership Absence management Health and Safety Mental Heath Smoking and Activity Alcohol and Substance abuse Physical activity Health Eating |
| Term 4 | Thursday 1st March 2018
4pm – 5pm |
KWS | Wellbeing weeks in school
Wellbeing Charter |
| Term 5 | Thursday 19th April 2018
4pm – 5pm |
WUTC | Wellbeing Charter Visits review and planning for Cross Trust CPD
Wellbeing weeks planning |
| Term 6 | Thursday 14th June 2018
4pm – 5pm |
CUC | Wellbeing weeks planning
Launch of Staff survey and evaluation |
How to get involved.
We’re interested in your views. You can send comments and suggestions to: [email protected]