WELL-BEING

WELL-BEING IN WIRRAL SCHOOLS

Schools in Wirral recognise the importance of supporting the health and well being of all staff who work in them. Teachers have an enormous influence on children and young people, providing role models for lifestyle, and for teachers to deliver higher educational achievement they themselves need to be the foundations of positive health and well being.

Responsibility for promoting teacher health and well being rests with the Headteacher and Governing Body of a school and within Wirral schools there are already a number of effective strategies in place and examples of good practice to improve teacher health and well being.

To further support schools in their commitment to improvement in all its aspects the LEA introduced the National Well-Being Programme for Wirral schools in September 2002. Schools participate on a voluntary basis, as part of their Service Level Agreement.

The National Programme is offered by WorkLife Support, a branch of the Teacher Support Network. www.worklifesupport.com

The Programme is intended for the benefit of all school staff, ie teachers and support staff. Well-Being is a solutions-focussed programme that brings all school staff together to focus, not only on what they would like to change, but on how they will do it. This ensures ownership by staff and long term sustainability of a healthy working and learning environment.

The aims of the National Well-Being Programme are as follows:

1. To make sustainable improvements in the well-being of all staff working in Education.
2. To promote supportive and well-informed managerial practice that actively develops healthy workplaces, focusing upon organisational progress.
3. To enable staff as individuals and in groups to manage successfully the pressures they face.
4. To use a range of evaluation methods in order to identify strengths and weaknesses, to measure progress, systematically, to inform action taken as a consequence and to establish effective means of achieving success in different contexts.
5. To provide a means of networking information and research about best practice.

Through the Well-being Programme, the Well-Being Co-ordinator works with the school to devise practical strategies to help transform the culture and ethos of the school. Well-Being is a sustainable process whereby staff health, well-being and motivation becomes an embedded aspect of the schools management and links directly to school effectiveness. The Well-being Programme recognises that staff are the greatest asset and effective support, communication and teamwork is the key to organisational success.

The LEA also offers all schools a welfare support service where, in co-operation with Headteachers and line managers, individuals can access the Authority's Occupational health services.

If you require any further information about well being or want to become involved in the programme contact: Kathryn Stokell Telephone: 0151 666 5633.