We teach students about the importance and benefits of healthy habits as part of our curriculum, and promote physical activity, a balanced diet and self-care activities throughout the curriculum and school life.
Mental health
We promote positive mental health for every student and member of staff, and have both a universal whole-school approach to mental health, together with specialised, targeted approaches for vulnerable students.
Ark Alexandra Academy works with Place2Be, a children's mental health charity that helps pupils explore their emotions and feel better about themselves. Young people can go to the Place2Be room in school to express themselves by making art, talking and more. Place2Be also provides support and advice for parents and carers.
Place2Be's professionals work with individuals one-to-one or in small groups, giving regular support for pupils who need it. Place2Be always gets agreement from parents or carers before they support an individual through one-to-one counselling, and meet with parents or carers regularly to keep them updated.
Anna Atkinson is our School Project Manager for Place2Be. You can arrange to meet her at school or get in touch at anna.atkinson@place2be.org.uk.
Signature Strategies for Mental Health and Wellbeing
Our Signature strategies for Mental Health and Wellbeing will ensure that all students are empowered with independent strategies to support their self-regulation, perseverance and determination, even in the face of setbacks.
These signature strategies will be Ark Alexandra’s collective approach to supporting each other and ourselves through emotional dysregulation.
Students will be empowered with signature strategies to ‘breathe’, ‘ground’, and ‘distance’, ensuring that they develop self-awareness, resilience and coping strategies for when emotions are challenging.
See our approach below:
Healthy eating
We value the importance of meal times. We are committed to provide a healthy and nutritious meal for every child alongside the experience of eating meals in a small group alongside adults. We have an onsite kitchen where all our meals are cooked fresh each day.
Physical activity
We make full use of our outstanding sports facilities. All students complete PE each week as part of their curriculum. We run a range of sports clubs each week and every student has to take part in our compulsory co-curricular club that includes sport. We have fully qualified coaches who run sports clubs every lunchtime and after school to enable every student to take part.