Name:

Emma Buckle

Role:

Assistant Headteacher at Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School in Kingstanding. I have been the Senior Mental Health Lead for 2 years, but have been on the Senior Leadership Team for 6. I lead on both pupil and staff wellbeing across the school; I am a Designated Safeguarding Lead and a passionate History teacher. I am therefore well placed to comment on the current issues/challenges surrounding leading on mental health in the secondary sector.

Introduction: Getting started 

One of the first things I did as the new Senior Mental Health Lead at Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School was devise an action plan based on Public Health England’s 8 Principles for adopting a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing. See below. 

Cardinal Wiseman is situated in a deprived area of Birmingham; this adds another dimension to our mental health provision and the needs of our school community. Evidence suggests that the fall-out from the COVID pandemic disproportionately affected those from disadvantaged backgrounds, females and those with previous mental health issues. Analysis of our safeguarding monitoring system shows that the majority of the entries are for mental health related concerns. Mental health is indeed a big issue that impacts our school body every day.

Mental Health can feel like an insurmountable concern to address, with too many pupils to help and too many initiatives/guidelines to keep abreast of, and so the biggest piece of  advice I can give a Senior Mental Health Lead is to develop a 3 year action plan in which you tackle 2 or 3 ongoing issues at a time. Brainstorm everything you would like to achieve in your role and then prioritise what needs to be done in Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3.

My priorities for Cardinal Wiseman this academic year are:

1. The early identification of mental health issues so that appropriate support can be put in place quickly - I will address how we are doing this in my next blog;

2. Increasing the protective factors which surround the pupils, helping them to become more resilient/proactive with their own mental health;

3. Developing an open and supportive culture so that staff, pupils and parents alike feel empowered to discuss mental health related issues - free from judgement and stigmatisation. Whole staff training is an integral part of this.

Time is precious in a school environment. Carving out time/space to promote mental health whole school can feel like a challenge; teachers, especially in a secondary setting, see their priority as their subject area, and that is why having your Headteacher and governing body on board is paramount. At Cardinal Wiseman, mental health is a permanent agenda item at governors and SLT meetings. It features on the School Development Plan and there is a specific mental health section on the school website. If you are struggling to get the ‘powers that be’ on board, show them that there are strong links between mental health and attendance, mental health and attainment, mental health and behaviour, happiness, confidence etc. Emphasise the correlation between emotional wellbeing and cognitive development/learning, as well as a child’s physical and social health. Adopting a whole school approach to mental health will be ‘win-win’ for everyone in school!

Staff need up-skilling on mental health issues - how to identify them and how to support pupils (in line with a school’s safeguarding procedures). Create an ethos and environment which promotes wellbeing at every opportunity. The drip-feed effect can work wonders if you are struggling for time. For staff add a mental health slide to briefings; share key pupil information so that staff can adapt their practice where necessary; introduce ‘staff shorts’, top tips on how to address specific mental health issues. For parents, have a ‘presence’ at parents evenings; a hand-out or stand which highlights what parents/carers can do to support their children through the issues they might encounter.

In the next blog, I will address what I am doing at Cardinal Wiseman to try and identify mental health issues at an early stage before they manifest into something bigger.

Further suggested reading:

- ‘Promoting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing’ on the GOV.UK website. - The ‘Anna Freud Mentally Healthy Schools’ website has a number of articles which are useful.