William Harding School’s Commitment to Staff Wellbeing

At William Harding School, we recognise that staff wellbeing is fundamental to a happy, healthy and successful school community.

We understand the demands of working in education and are committed to supporting our staff. We believe wellbeing should be part of everyday school life, rather than something added on as a separate initiative.

Our aim is to create a culture where staff feel supported, valued, listened to and able to maintain a healthy balance between work and home life.

How We Support Staff

We offer a range of support and opportunities to promote staff wellbeing, recognising that wellbeing is closely connected to workload, relationships, recognition and feeling supported at work.

  • A half day of wellbeing time each term

  • An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) providing independent and confidential support

  • Occupational Health referrals and support

  • A Mental Health and Wellbeing Team, including trained Mental Health First Aiders

  • Mental health and wellbeing CPD for all staff

  • The opportunity to develop a Wellbeing Action Plan

  • Access to a counsellor and coach

  • Support from our specialist teams, including our Family Liaison Officers, Behaviour team and SEN Team, as well as staff who specialise in English and Maths

  • Trained Domestic Abuse Champions and Menopause Champions

  • A Wellbeing Committee that keeps up to date with current research and best practice, reviews our wellbeing provision and establishes working parties to explore and address specific issues where needed

  • Team wellbeing strategy documents outlining the support and provision available from each team, which are regularly reviewed

  • Staff meeting time to action assessment, book scrutiny and run parents' evening sessions

  • The option for teachers to take PPA from home, should they wish to

  • Subject Leader and Year Leader release time

  • Shared workload across three or four teachers, where appropriate

  • Planning shared across the Year Group team, so staff work collaboratively and share responsibility

  • A light marking policy, including the use of marking stickers, in line with DfE workload research

  • William Harding Wonders – a staff recognition board and monthly rewards celebrating the contributions of our staff

  • Additional office support to reduce unnecessary administration and workload

  • Tailored CPD to meet individual staff needs

  • Clear expectations around working outside normal hours

We do not see wellbeing as a tokenistic gesture and we avoid wellbeing gimmicks often discussed on social media. Wellbeing should be interwoven into everything that we do with the understanding that happy staff perform better and live healthier lives.

What Our Staff Say

We regularly seek feedback from staff through our Mental Health and Wellbeing Survey, team meetings and our Wellbeing Committee. This helps us recognise what is working well and identify where we can continue to improve.

Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Survey results showed that:

96% of staff agree that William Harding School actively promotes a healthy work-life balance.

98% of staff feel they can go to their line manager for support when they need it.

100% of staff agree that if they experience unacceptable parental behaviour, they know they will be supported.

Staff have also highlighted the practical elements of our wellbeing offer:

“Other places are amazed at the amount of wellbeing we receive at WHS.”

“PPA from home is going well, the reduction in printing is also working well, and having clarification on printed next steps has made things easier. We didn’t have any suggestions for things to further improve.”

“We found it extremely beneficial to have a day for reports. After discussions with the teams, they also found it good to do as well.”

“It is valuable getting half a day wellbeing as a reward. It is nice to get the recognition.”

“WH Wonders are lovely and the Costa vouchers are great.”

“We appreciate how as a team we all support each other.”

We use staff feedback alongside research and best practice to continually review and develop our approach to staff wellbeing.

Useful links to support our staff’s wellbeing