mental health | Schools Week

Urgent action demanded on home education after deaths of ‘invisible’ children

The government must pay “urgent attention” to safeguarding for pupils educated at home, an expert has warned, amid a probe into the deaths of three children. The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel revealed it had been notified of 15 incidents of “serious harm” involving home-educated children over the past year in England. Three children died, […]

Is the government fulfilling its £300m mental health promises?

Theresa May’s 2018 Green Paper on transforming children and young people’s mental health committed to a radical £300 million shake-up of support in schools. The government promised its plans would tackle the “burning injustice” of mental health illness. But the impact of Covid and ad-hoc announcements tacked on to the existing promises mean it is […]

£17m school mental health support boost: what you need to know

The Department for Education has set out how it will spend over £17 million for mental health initiatives in schools and colleges today. But over half of the cash has already been announced, it has emerged. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said he was providing new funding so every young person “knows who and where to […]

Ofsted to review framework’s impact on staff wellbeing, new charter pledges

Ofsted will review the impact its inspection framework has on staff wellbeing and the government has promised not to publish guidance outside of working hours as part of a new charter unveiled today. The Department for Education and Ofsted have made 12 commitments as part of the new education staff wellbeing charter. From the autumn, […]

DfE extends school leaders wellbeing service to 160 more heads with £62k

A mental health and wellbeing support service for school leaders will be extended after an extra £62,000 in government funding. We are now seeing significant signs of burnout across the profession The school leaders’ wellbeing service, a pilot scheme run by Education Support to provide online peer and telephone support to about 250 school leaders, […]

Study to track Covid’s long-term impact on pupils’ life chances

A new study will track Covid’s long-term impact on the life chances of thousands of year 11 pupils. The £4.6 million Covid social mobility and opportunities (COSMO) study will look at the pandemic’s long-term consequences for 12,000 participants’ education, careers and wellbeing. Researchers at the Sutton Trust think tank and University College London plan to […]

School mental health lead training slated to begin this autumn

Training for a designated senior mental health lead in every school by 2025 could begin in the autumn, with the funding handed directly to schools. Government officials were this week pressed to answer why the training was yet to get up and running, more than 18 months since a procurement exercise was launched. The Department […]

DfE eyes wider rollout of ‘glasses in classes’ and wellbeing schemes after opportunity areas success

Ministers have said they are considering rolling out schemes trialled in their 12 “opportunity areas” more widely, including a programme offering eye tests to reception pupils and a wellbeing programme. Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, who is also responsible for the opportunity areas programme, has written to education committee chair Robert Halfon with an update […]

Government unable to back up promises on school mental health support

The government has pledged to accelerate the roll-out of mental health support teams (MHSTs) for schools – but was unable to provide figures to back up promises the programme will now reach more children. The NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, said that the MHSTs in schools will be rolled out to between […]