Student Support
Our Student Support Officers (SSO’s) have an important role to play and provide significant benefits to our school. They offer pastoral care throughout the school to support our pupils develop effective coping skills and resilience.
​
They support our pupils and help them build positive relationships both in our school community and out in the community and within their family units.
​
As a pastoral team within school our SSO’s work closely with Heads of years/form tutors/teachers/parents and carers, as well as external agencies constantly ensuring our pupils get the correct support package for their individual needs.
​
Our dedicated SSO’s work with pupils on a one to one basis or in small groups to raise aspirations and ensure all our pupils have the opportunity to reach their full potential.
​
Student Support Officers have no teaching commitment, so they are available to deal with issues as and when they arise.
​
Our pupils’ safety and emotional wellbeing is paramount. We want to help your child/children come to school to achieve and will endeavour to help them get the most out of school.
​
Some of the areas our SSO’s are able to offer support with are:
-
Self-esteem/ confidence building.
-
Anger Management
-
Anxiety
-
Exam Stress
-
Organisational skills
-
Social Skills
-
Friendship issues
-
Bereavement
-
Home life/upset
-
Family breakdowns
-
Mental Health
-
Aspirations.
Our Student Support Officers are:
Mrs V Harrison - Key Stage 3.
Mrs S Hunter – Key Stage 4.
Tameside, Oldham and Glossop MIND is an innovative and dynamic organisation that provides helpful services promoting the well-being and improvement of the mental health of our clients. We have been around for over 30 years and our mission in life is to simply offer a service that’s best-in-class. We do this by providing a regularly refreshed and diverse range of activities and services that promote psychological and physical well-being, stimulating recovery and leading to people returning to a positive and active life in society and generally feeling much better. 1 in 4 of us will need help and support with our mental health at some point in our lives, so if you feel like you might be one of them, or know someone who’s struggling, you’ve come to the right place.
​
Schools Resilience and Mental Health Awareness; MIND schools’ projects continue to build momentum by delivering bespoke workshops on resilience to groups of students and training for staff and parents. At St Damian’s R.C. Science College MIND have delivered four Resilience workshops to Year 11 students focusing on relaxation techniques. These were really well received by students and staff, creating a completely relaxed and silent classroom. They took students through a short inventory of how they relax and then shared ideas on how they can improve the quality of their relaxation. They then practiced different tried and tested stress relief methods such as breathing techniques, progressive muscle relaxation and focused listening to music. The feedback was very positive sharing thoughtful comments such as;
​
“I enjoyed the music and having the chance to just stop and take stock of myself”
“I found the breathing exercises and relaxation for before going to sleep the most helpful”
“I thought the most helpful part was learning how to relax and deal with anxiety better”
Sleep
One of the issues students highlighted as a barrier to their well-being was healthy sleep habits. Caffeinated drinks, long nights spent on social media and being exposed to artificial light though electronic screens such as computers all further compound their ability to fall sleep and sleep well. They therefore incorporated advice on quality sleep into their talks and workshops. Also the national Mind website has some great tips on how to improve your sleep if you would like to learn more.