Merstone school has a variety of initiatives and programmes that we are part of, that all contribute to the importance of supporting pupils' mental health and wellbeing , therefore supporting their life chances and helping to nurture them during their time with us and beyond. All of our initiatives and programmes are complimentary to each other and offer a complete package into ensuring staff have research based training to understanding and supporting pupil development. 

SMILE- SMILE stands for Socialise, Move, Interest, Learn and Engage. SMILE is an approach developed at Forest Oak School and adopted by Merstone School to support the emotional health and wellbeing of our whole school community. It is based on the 'NHS 5 ways to wellbeing'. Our aim is to empower our school community to become architects of their own emotional health and wellbeing within an enabling environment. The principles of the approach are: to build emotional resilience for all, promoting good mental health that leads to good life outcomes, listening to each other, care, concern and respect for everyone and kindness and gratitude.

Nurturing school- Merstone is part of the Nurture UK 'Nurturing school's programme'. This programme focuses on pupils' emotional needs and development alongside their academic learning. It helps staff develop and embed a nurturing culture and ethos throughout our education setting, alongside explicit small group nurture sessions to support social and emotional needs. 

Trauma Informed school- Merstone is a 'Trauma Informed School'. In our school, our practice focuses on understanding trauma's impact and supporting affected students by creating an inclusive and safe environment for all. 

Restorative Practice- Merstone is a restorative practice school. This means that our whole school teaching and learning approach encourages safe behaviour that is supportive and respectful. It facilitates individuals to be truly accountable for their behaviour and to repair any harm caused. 

Protective Behaviours- Merstone is aligned with the principles of protective behaviours. In our school this focuses on safe and unsafe behaviour, in order to contextualise what pupils are doing and outline what behaviour is safe and which is unsafe, in a host of settings and environments. It is a process that encourages self-empowerment and brings with it the skills to raise self-esteem. This is achieved by helping individuals to recognise and trust their intuitive feelings (Early Warning Signs) and to develop strategies for self-protection.