What is the school's role in supporting pupils' mental health?
by Claire Huyton @ClaireHuyton
When I started teaching, having trained in an inner-city state school where staff struggled to name the pupils they came across in the corridors, I was clear I wanted to be in a school which allowed me to get to know the pupils. 13 years later, 3 small independent schools have allowed me to do just that. The question now stands, how well should the teachers know their pupils and how much responsibility should a school take for pupils' wellbeing and mental health?
We all know that pupils who are struggling with their mental health are not going to perform at their best when it comes to their academic education, but when it comes to resolving these issues, where does the school's role lie alongside the responsibilities of the parents and health care professionals? Anyone that has tried to get a referral through CAMHS will know just how high their threshold lies. With increasing instances of self-harm and pupils reporting suicidal thoughts or intentions, the initial concern for any school has got to be safeguarding these vulnerable pupils. Supporting these pupils' mental health has been pushed, increasingly onto educational establishments.
It is very clear through the RSE reform that mental health education should be taught from a very early age, with the hope that an improvement will be seen in pupils' resilience and ability to manage their own wellbeing. Is this where the school's role lies? Or is one-to-one counselling, mentoring, or coaching now an expectation?
I am lucky enough to have worked with fantastic school nurses, medical officers, and ELSA’s who are finding themselves facing more and more complex issues which go beyond their expertise but still lie well below the CAMHS threshold. At this point, the wellbeing of staff must also be a consideration, as their workloads and stress levels increase, staff mental health begins to suffer. As Assistant Head Pastoral, I have introduced school counsellors into my last two schools, a luxury many cannot afford, but with sessions having to be funded by parents this support is still not accessible for all.
When I started in this role, my first mistake was to think I could ‘fix’ these kinds of issues, always looking for a single act of support that will get the pupil back on track, be that an adjusted timetable, a change to teaching style or a course of therapy. A tidy support plan that can be ticked off with a ‘favorable outcome’ after a few weeks. It was quickly evident that this was not going to be the case, and whilst I still use support plans to monitor actions and outcomes, as well as ensure clear communication between all parties, these are rarely quickly ‘ticked off’ as ‘completed’.
What these pupils need more than anything is time, a listening ear, or more often than not just a safe space where they feel valued, and whilst this may seem like a simple solution, in a busy school with endless deadlines and lessons to be taught, time can be the hardest resource to give. Staff are often distracted or stressed themselves which can come across as dismissive or uncaring.
A recent audit of our offerings showed a huge range of support for our pupils from ELSA to one-to-one mentoring, wellbeing groups, Yo-chi, Yoga, mindfulness sessions, nurture groups, big sister mentoring, a school counsellor, and a focus on the use of language and growth mindset. As a school with a strong academic record, for staff, all of this lies on top of a busy timetable of lessons, academic support sessions, and extra-curricular activities. Our focus now becomes finding the balance to ensure pupil support and success does not lead to staff burnout. There are loads of great initiatives out there but now each time I investigate something new the question in my mind is ‘is the workload added to staff balanced by the benefits to pupils?’.
Finding pupil-focused initiatives which allow the pupils to take responsibility for their own wellbeing through Wellbeing Ambassadors, Girls On Board and a Big Sister Program, have all added greatly to pupil experience without compromising staff resources. Bought in schemes such as My Happy Mind have stopped staff from having to reinvent the wheel and whilst at a financial cost the payoff is a release of staff time which is far more valuable. The answer to great pastoral care can be is simple, find your staff the time to show how much they care.
Claire Huyton is the Director of Pastoral Care and DSL at St Nicholas School, a small independent girls school in Hampshire. Claire moved to St Nicholas a year ago, having previously fulfilled the same role at The Royal School in Haslemere, Surry. The school is currently working towards the Carnegie Mental Health Award, working on improving both staff and pupil wellbeing across 8 key competencies. Follow her on Twitter @ClaireHuyton