I started teaching because I love learning: the initial intrigue, finding new information, the steep learning curve and the sense of achievement as everything starts to fall into place.
I wanted to spread this enthusiasm for learning. I believe that educating the next generation will transform historically deprived communities – this is how our generation can make an impact.
Throughout my teaching journey, I have worked with some very deprived young people. I’m currently working in Bradford, where 62 per cent of my school’s pupils are Ever6FSM, and 84 per cent speak English as an additional language.
Early in my career, it became clear to me that many of the children I taught were battling with a world of issues that needed to be overcome before they could give their learning the attention it really needed. I, like many other teachers, found myself adopting a whole range of new roles in addition to that of teacher: agony aunt, behaviour therapist, wellbeing advisor – the list goes on. Teaching has become so much more than imparting subject knowledge and to me, this is what makes it so rewarding.
But how can we, as school leaders, support our teachers to support students, and build a whole-school culture that values mental wellbeing? How do we help these vulnerable youngsters entering our class every day?
Using form time effectively
As a form tutor I remember being provided with a thick ring-binder of lesson plans for tutor time. I struggled to get through any of the lessons in the short time available and I still had to produce all the resources myself – which didn’t do my wellbeing or that of my students much good.
This was a missed opportunity – tutor time can be used to implement a basic whole-school approach to student wellbeing. Today, I am assistant principal responsible for cross-curricular innovation, which includes PSHE. School leaders can support teachers in supporting their students by designing a clear programme of learning for tutor time covering wellbeing, SMSC and PSHE issues.
Less is often more. Providing too many options to choose from can just be confusing. Providing all of the lesson resources is essential. Access to online learning content means you take full advantage of pre-made material and share it with staff easily.
I recommend using charities and organisations that provide wellbeing or SMSC lesson resources, such as Worth It Projects and The Girls’ Network. Helping staff to deliver high-quality, informative lessons on mental wellbeing will heighten the awareness not only of students but of staff too.
Providing essential experiences
Education is about far more than assimilating information. It is about exploring life. Sadly, not all children come from a happy home, with many experiencing overcrowding, poor-quality food and arguing, and whose carers are not able to provide them with the experiences that many of their peers take for granted.
To tackle this, we run enrichment days. On these days we give the children life experiences that some would otherwise not have, putting on engaging activities that will build self-esteem, motivate and inspire.
Past enrichment days at my school include trips to art galleries, mentoring, teaching students to ride a bike and interview preparation. On these days we also provide sessions specifically focusing on mental health, confidence and wellbeing.
Another way to build these enriching activities into school life is through celebration. Show students that their teachers are proud of them by celebrating successes publicly and with pride, and arranging events and treats for those that have gone the extra mile.
Mentoring
When I first rolled out mentoring during my Future Leaders placement year, it was for a handful of underachieving year 11 students who were mentored by the senior leadership team. It was really powerful.
After that, I went on to work in my current school where I introduced a vertical tutoring structure – meaning that all staff were involved with a tutor group, giving a low student to staff ratio. This paved the way for providing mentoring for all students.
We are lucky to be able to allow staff an hour per fortnight to dedicate to mentoring. During this time, they meet with three of their tutees (20 minutes per student) and discuss how they are doing in school. While one focus is on academic achievement, these mentoring sessions open the door to identifying and removing wellbeing barriers to their progress. This means that every child in the school gets the undivided attention of their tutor, several times each term.
While it may mean that staff have a full timetable, we ensure that all staff still have the necessary amount of planning, preparation and assessment time, and the value of the mentoring sessions made staff buy-in easy.
Time is one of the most valuable things you can give a child. If your staff timetable has capacity to provide mentoring, even if not to all students, this is a highly valuable tool.
Train all staff
I believe that any adult involved in the lives of young people has a duty to ensure the mental wellbeing of those in their supervision. It is vital to make sure that all staff – especially support staff – are trained to recognise the early warning signs of potential mental health issues.
As well as a pastoral recap session at the start of each year, mental health is covered as a part of the induction process for any new staff joining mid-year. Once issues have been picked up on, it is important to follow a clear process, documenting everything you do every step of the way.
Through the use of both internal support systems and external agencies such as CAMHS, support for young people is available.
Communicate with staff
Understandably, young people might not welcome their issues being shared with staff. At the same time, it is important that staff working directly with a young person with mental health issues are able to adjust their approach in order to fully support them and prevent further issues. Sharing key headline information with teachers discreetly is important in respecting the possible sensitivity of the issue.
Support families in moving forward
When the warning signs are present and staff have begun to act, things can get tricky. It can be difficult to engage a teenager to seek a formal diagnosis and support. It is vital to engage students’ families too, so that they can support them outside of school. My school employs a counsellor, who opens some sessions up to students’ families.
This can make all the difference. I remember one student who suffered from depression which initially manifested itself as compulsive lying. While this made it hard to ascertain the true picture at times, through family engagement and the support of our in-school counsellor, great progress has been made.
I have seen cases where families become very defensive over discussions of their child’s mental health and initially refuse to accept that issues exist. But through gentle support, many open up. Perseverance is key.
Reflections
The responsibility to care for students’ mental health can put an increased strain on schools. But with careful planning, a clear strategy and an effort to ensure awareness of the responsibility to provide this support, this strain can be eased, and both students and staff benefit as a result.
We still have a long way to go to ensure that all of our practice is consistently high-quality. Staff have mostly been very receptive to this additional work, particularly as there has been a growing focus in the sector and national media as the number of young people known to have mental health issues has increased.
By including mentoring in the staff timetable we ensured that it was given the same importance in terms of preparation as any other lesson. Mentoring was also included in the quality assurance cycle, meaning that we could support and hold to account teachers as well as identify areas for further improvement.
Improving mental health and wellbeing makes a difference. Measuring the impact using hard data is tricky, but student voice and parent, student and staff surveys have shown that our work has helped our students to feel safe and supported at school. Attitudes to learning have improved and the number of behaviour incidents fallen.
The need for good mental health can often be forgotten in school, where there are so many competing priorities, but without it students’ ability to learn is significantly affected. When good mental health is nurtured, young people are better able to deal with what life presents, thrive and achieve.
- Katharine Otter is assistant principal at The Samuel Lister Academy in Bradford.
Future Leaders
The Future Leaders programme offers leadership development for aspiring headteachers of challenging schools. Find out more and become part of the network of more than 500 senior leaders and headteachers at www.future-leaders.org.uk/programmes