Why the school chose to undertake the award

Our school chose to undertake the Wellbeing Award for Schools because wellbeing is already central to our ethos and practice. We place a strong emphasis on supporting the wellbeing of our children, staff, families and wider community, and we wanted the opportunity to celebrate and recognise the extensive work we already do. The award provides a valuable framework to reflect on our strengths, showcase good practice and continue to build upon a positive, nurturing wellbeing culture across our school community.

Key areas identified for development

Undertaking the Wellbeing Award for Schools helped us to identify the need for greater consistency and clarity in how wellbeing support is communicated and documented across the school. At the outset, engaging parents more fully in wellbeing initiatives was also an area for development. While a great deal of effective wellbeing work was already in place, the award highlighted opportunities to strengthen whole school systems, capture pupil and staff voice more formally, and improve engagement with families to ensure a shared understanding of wellbeing across our community.

Changes made as a result of the award

As a result of undertaking the Wellbeing Award for Schools, we made several purposeful changes to strengthen and embed our wellbeing provision across the school. We developed clearer, more consistent whole school approaches to wellbeing, including improved documentation, shared language and agreed systems, ensuring all staff had a common understanding of wellbeing support and procedures.

All staff now have access to regular supervision, providing a safe and reflective space for professional dialogue and emotional support. We also introduced an assessment and monitoring system for wellbeing and targeted interventions, enabling us to evaluate impact, track progress and ensure appropriate support for pupils.

To further strengthen our approach, we introduced the Zones of Regulation across the school to support children in recognising and managing their emotions. The Deputy Head has completed a Trauma Informed Diploma, and all staff have engaged in drip fed training based on this learning. As a result, the school has developed a shared, trauma aware approach, ensuring that practice is responsive, compassionate and informed by an understanding of children’s experiences.

In response to initial challenges around parental engagement, we also improved communication with families and created more opportunities for parents to be involved in wellbeing initiatives. Alongside a stronger focus on pupil and staff voice, these changes have contributed to a more consistent, inclusive and supportive wellbeing culture across our whole school community.

Impact of these changes

The changes made as part of the Wellbeing Award for Schools have had a significant and positive impact across our whole school community. A clearer, more consistent approach to wellbeing has led to improved confidence and shared understanding among staff, ensuring that children receive timely, appropriate and compassionate support. Regular supervision has strengthened staff wellbeing, providing space for reflection and helping staff feel valued, supported and confident in their roles.

The introduction of assessment and monitoring systems for interventions has improved outcomes for pupils by enabling us to track progress, evaluate impact and respond more effectively to individual needs. The implementation of the Zones of Regulation, alongside whole staff trauma aware training, has supported children to better understand and regulate their emotions, contributing to improved emotional literacy, self regulation and behaviour for learning.

Our trauma aware approach has enhanced relationships across the school, creating a calmer, more empathetic environment where children feel safe, understood and ready to learn. Improved communication and increased parental engagement have strengthened partnerships with families, leading to greater trust, shared understanding and consistency of support between home and school.

Overall, these changes have embedded a positive wellbeing culture where pupils, staff and families feel supported, empowered and valued, and where wellbeing is an integral part of everyday practice.

Impact on pupil development and learning

Achievement of the Wellbeing Award for Schools was not undertaken to directly impact academic outcomes, as our attainment data as a school is in line with expected outcomes nationally. Our focus was, and continues to be, on supporting children’s emotional wellbeing and readiness to learn, recognising this as a foundation for engagement and long term success rather than an immediate measure of attainment.

The impact has been clearly seen in pupils’ confidence, emotional literacy and self regulation. Through approaches such as the Zones of Regulation and our trauma aware practice, children have developed a stronger understanding of their feelings, how these emotions affect them, and what strategies they can use to manage and respond to them.

As a result, pupils are more confident in expressing their emotions, seeking support when needed and using tools and strategies to regulate themselves. This has led to calmer classrooms, improved behaviour for learning and increased engagement, supporting children to access learning more effectively.

While these impacts may not immediately be reflected in attainment data, they represent significant progress in pupils’ personal development, resilience and emotional wellbeing, which we recognise as essential foundations for sustained achievement and positive future outcomes.

Next steps

Our next steps focus on sustaining, embedding and strengthening the positive wellbeing culture established through the Wellbeing Award for Schools. We aim to continue developing our trauma aware practice through ongoing professional development, ensuring that all staff maintain a shared understanding of trauma informed approaches and emotional wellbeing.

We will continue to embed and refine the use of the Zones of Regulation across the school, ensuring consistency and deepening pupils’ understanding and independent use of emotional regulation strategies. Alongside this, we plan to further develop our assessment and monitoring systems for wellbeing and interventions, enabling us to track impact more effectively and respond to emerging needs.

Strengthening parental engagement remains a priority, with a focus on supporting families to better understand and reinforce wellbeing strategies at home. We will also continue to ensure that staff supervision and wellbeing remain a key part of our culture, recognising the importance of supporting those who support others.

Ultimately, our next steps aim to ensure that wellbeing remains fully embedded within everyday practice, is responsive to the changing needs of our school community, and continues to support pupils’ confidence, emotional development and readiness to learn.

Reflections on the award journey

The journey to achieving the Wellbeing Award for Schools was not an easy one and required a significant commitment of time and effort. Although we felt strongly at the outset that we already did a great deal to support wellbeing across our school community, the process highlighted the additional work needed to review, refine and formally capture this practice.

What became clear early on was that while wellbeing was firmly embedded in our ethos and day to day practice, we were less strong in consistently evidencing what we do and, importantly, why we do it. The award challenged us to be more intentional and reflective, ensuring that our actions were clearly linked to need, underpinned by rationale, and evaluated for impact.

This required deeper reflection, improved documentation and stronger systems for monitoring, voice and evaluation. While this was demanding alongside the day to day pressures of school life, it ultimately strengthened our practice and gave greater clarity and purpose to the wellbeing work already taking place.

Achieving the award has been highly affirming. It has validated the commitment, compassion and dedication of our staff, recognised the positive culture that existed prior to the award, and strengthened our confidence in our approach. Importantly, the process has left us with more robust systems, clearer evidence and a shared understanding that wellbeing is not only what we do, but how and why we do it.

Recommendation to other schools

While the process is demanding, it is also highly valuable. For schools willing to engage fully, the award provides a robust framework for strengthening practice, embedding consistency and ensuring that wellbeing is not only a core value, but clearly evidenced, evaluated and sustained. Achieving the award is a significant accomplishment and a meaningful recognition of whole school commitment to wellbeing.

Interested in achieving the same impact? 

The Wellbeing Award for Schools (WAS) helps schools build a whole-school culture where emotional wellbeing is prioritised, supported by strong systems, trained staff and a shared community vision. 

👉 Find out more about the award and how your school can begin its journey today: