Student Wellbeing

Student Wellbeing Vision

At Townley, the wellbeing of every student is the foundation for reaching their full potential. Establishing positive relationships between students, parents/carers and staff enable us to establish an environment that supports healthy emotional and mental health. We strive to ensure that students have access to support from staff and outside services to equip the individual student to develop skills over time to overcome difficulties and celebrate their successes.

Each of the tabs below opens a section with further information, on how to get support and information:

How to Reach Out (Inside School)

Speak about your concerns with:

Someone at home
A teacher
Your House Tutor
Your Learning Manager or Assistant Learning Manager
Student Hub

Whisper Tool

Students can also report issues via SMS by texting: TOW + their message to 07860 021 584

If using the whisper tool and you want individual guidance you must leave your name, the more explicit information you give, the easier you will make it for us to help/ support. This can be completed using this link

Health and Wellbeing Ambassadors

41 students have received training to be a Mental Health Champions ("MHC"). The students attended a training course over a number of weeks. The course was run by Pascale Berthellet, Bexley Public Health Advisor for Children and Young People.

The training enables students within the school community to support other students and educate them regarding dealing with mental health stigma and support the school pastoral framework.

The students have given assemblies to the rest of the school regarding their role as MHCs and what it entails. They have helped students identify when they need support and direct them to the right areas such as Student Services and the pastoral team.

Headscape - Bexley - NHS Oxleas

Bexley and Greenwich HeadScape website has been designed by CAMHS to support young people in Bexley and Greenwich as a ‘one stop’ source of self-help about a range of mental health issues and conditions.

The website however covers a multitude of different mental health conditions; it allows young people to browse a range of mental health issues and conditions and provides information to get help and support if they feel they need it.

Anti Bullying Ambassador training & the Diana Award

Every year the Diana Award offers training to students so they can join the existing team of Anti Bullying Ambassadors at Townley. The Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme sees trainers working with students to change the attitude surrounding bullying, opening an important dialogue about the importance of kindness and consideration of others. The programme has a strong peer-to-peer focus, with trainers giving young people the skills and confidence to become Anti-Bullying Ambassadors to tackle bullying in their schools long after the training has finished. The Diana Award’s anti-bullying work is recognised as world-class thanks to this sustainable approach.

In addition, the Diana Award offers the opportunity to be involved in the Anti-Racist training. Students will network with other passionate young people, exchange ideas and share good practice, allowing students to play a vital role in developing Townley Grammar School’s Anti- Racist Bullying work and allow students to creatively explore and understand the topic of racist bullying.

IMAGO - Bexley Young Carers

Last term we welcomed to our pastoral community, Imago.

Imago Young Carers delivers a support service to anyone aged 8-18 living in Bexley who is taking on caring responsibilities for a family member with a long-term illness, disability, mental health or substance misuse issue.

Imago Young Carers will enable Young Carers, aged 8-18, to receive some respite from their caring responsibilities, socialise with their peers and receive tailored support and information. We provide social groups for Young Carers called Chill Clubs.

For further information, please contact the Imago Young Carers Hub:

Phone: 0300 111 1110
Email: hello@bexleyyoungcarers.org.uk

The Imago YC Hub is available for you to call Monday to Friday 9-5pm to talk about Young Carers’ needs and can provide information, advice and signposting.

Bexley MHST

Bexley MHST are the Mental Health in Schools Team, an NHS provision that hopes to help young people and parents by providing early intervention and preventative support. We are actively trying to reduce stigma and increase accessibility to mental health services. MHST aim to help prevent serious, long-term mental health difficulties from developing in the future by providing education and guided self-help interventions at an early stage.

We work with numerous schools in the area, but we can only take referrals from schools we work with. As we grow as a service we can expand into more schools – which has allowed us to bring our services to your school. For adolescents our core offer is 1:1 guided self-help for low mood and anxiety, as well as workshops and group interventions within the school. We look forward to meeting the school community and working with you.

For more information or if MHST sounds like it could benefit you:
Townley Grammar School have a designated mental health lead who liaises with the MHST team, as well as the Family Liaison Officer. Please approach pastoral school staff if you would like further information about MHST, or to discuss referrals.

Wellness Wednesday

Wellness Wednesday at Townley aims to inspire, motivate and encourage students in Y13 to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Every Wednesday afternoon, students have the opportunity to focus on their wellbeing and engage in a range of non-academic activities. In school, we provide a Wellness Wednesday programme which is led by staff or students. It includes football, yoga, couch to 5K, creativity projects, mentoring amongst many other activities. Students also have the option to engage in activities outside of school whether this be volunteering work, home activities such as baking or going to the gym.

Student Wellbeing