Health & Wellbeing

The health, emotional health and wellbeing of all members of the Ysgol Penglais School community is fundamental to all of our school values and aims.

We promote positive health, emotional health and well being to help students and staff to understand and express their feelings and build their confidence and emotional resilience and therefore their capacity to learn, accept change and achieve their full potential.

The School welcomes opportunities to promote health, emotional health and well being through the formal and informal curriculum. Staff use a variety of methods to ensure that health, emotional health and well being is being addressed. These complement and reflect the overall aims and values of the school.

Our approach includes:

  • Setting appropriately challenging tasks
  • Focus on positive praise and rewards, clear, known system of sanctions
  • Positive behaviour  strategies for responding to situations and actions
  • Parents are connected with what happens at school through regular newsletters, parent mail, Facebook group , social events organised by PTA, curriculum events, parent evenings
  • Close links between other professional agencies who support our students
  • Excellent systems of pastoral care
  • PSHE curriculum
  • Providing a wellbeing session each day to provide an opportunity for every student to talk to a key link adult
  • Encouraging co-operation and collaboration
  • Encouraging and developing coping strategies and resilience
  • Full time Emotional Literacy support Assistant
  • Access to the school counsellor
  • Termly meetings with the School in Reach Project which provides advice on CAMHS referrral

The delivery of Personal, Social, Health and Emotional Education (PSHE) is fundamental to our promotion of health and emotional health. Planned programmes and informal curriculum opportunities exist to explore issues appropriate to students’ ages and stages of development. Staff deal sensitively with these issues and differentiate according to the needs of the students in their care.

The school places emphasis on encouraging students to participate in school and community events. A range of extra curricular opportunities exist that enable our students  to extend interests and talents beyond the formal curriculum.

Physical activity contributes to both good physical and mental development. It has a wide range of physical and emotional benefits, from developing muscle and bone strength, increasing concentration and educational performance and learning, to boosting mood and reducing the risk of many lifestyle related diseases. Developing regular physical activity behaviours in childhood is crucial as we know that children who are active are more likely to become active adults and continue to reap the benefits of an active lifestyle throughout their life course.

1.At Penglais we deliver a broad and balanced curriculum providing a wide choice of physical activities, incorporating curricular learning with the culture, ethos and environment and engagement of the wider school community.

2. We ensure staff have the confidence and competence to offer high quality experiences of both physical education and physical activity across the school.

3. Engage student voice – giving students a voice and enhancing their ownership of physical activity delivery to ensure that activities are appropriately tailored to their needs which can support participation. (University facilities in year 11).

4. Create active environments – good access to the school playing fields, courts, sport hall, gym and weights room providing access to a range of equipment.

5. Offer choice and variety – offering a variety of physical activity opportunities for students to take part in, including extra-curricular activities. In addition, a focus on recreational activities, as well as the more traditional sports or competitive activities, which help to encourage participation.

6. Embed in curriculum, teaching and learning – increasing the amount of time spent being physically active during PE. KS 3 have 120 minutes a week and KS4 have 120 minutes a fortnight.

7. Promote ski courses and tours which can play a key role in contributing to the students physical activity levels.

8. Offer and deliver through the Active Young People programme activities at lunch times and after school. Also providing the more traditional team games competitions where students have the opportunity to represent school in the leagues, Urdd and Welsh cup competitions.