Pupil mental health: bringing it all together as a whole school approach – Pedagogy in practice
This webinar is the final part of a series of FREE online events exclusively for teachers and school leaders, and offers insights into best practice in supporting children and adolescents building on the latest evidence base. They have been brought to you as part of an exciting new partnership between The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) and the Chartered College of Teaching, two charities who are dedicated to supporting teachers to make a difference to the mental wellbeing of children and young people.
These sessions were designed to help close the knowledge gap in a range of topics that now form part of the statutory Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum. We think it is important to help equip teachers with knowledge in areas that may be less familiar to them and to help them consider how they might most effectively deliver these topics to children and adolescents as part of the curriculum.
These sessions built on previous webinars run by ACAMH, and attendees are strongly encouraged to watch back the ‘Ask the Expert’ series, plus a host of other free resources for teachers that can be found on ACAMH’s Teacher Hub.
The Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) is a unique multi-disciplinary organisation, and charity, established for over 60 years committed to ‘Sharing best evidence, improving practice’.
You can watch the previous webinars in this series for free here:
About the session
This webinar brings together experts from a range of settings to consider both classroom and whole school approaches on supporting pupils in the school to understand pupil mental health.
Panellists include Barry Carpenter (Professor of Mental Health in Education, Oxford Brookes), Ben Levinson OBE (Executive Head Teacher within The Tapscott Learning Trust), Saira Saeed (experienced Leader, DSL, SENCO, Medical Lead, Senior Mental Health Lead within the Secondary sector), Jan Forshaw (Head of Education, Coram Life Education) and Jenny Barksfield (Deputy CEO & Director of Education, PSHE Association).
Barry Carpenter has a career spanning over 40 years. His appointments include Professor of Mental Health in Education to Oxford Brookes University, and Honorary Professorships at universities in Ireland, Germany and Australia, as well as Principal, Chief Executive, and National Director for Complex Needs at the Government Department for Education. He has been a Fellow of the University of Oxford, and speaks and publishes internationally on special needs issues including “Girls and Autism” and ”Engaging Learners with Complex Needs”.
He recently became a Patron for the ADHD Foundation, and is a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching. He serves as a Trustee on the Board of the Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH). He is the co- author, (with his son, Matthew) of the Recovery Curriculum, (www.recoverycurriculum.org), which has shaped and influenced the thinking of many schools during the pandemic period.
Saira Saeed – Experienced Leader, DSL, SENCO, Medical Lead, Senior Mental Health Lead within the Secondary sector. Saira has worked in Secondary education for the last 17 years and has extensive experience as an English and PSHE teacher, DSL, SENCO and Medical Lead in a number of inner-city Secondary schools in the West Midlands. She was a key member of teams in two separate Secondary Schools that worked effectively to see the removal of Special Measures and receive ‘Good’ Ofsted judgements. Saira has successfully devised and strategically led the implementation of effective SEND, Medical and Safeguarding systems in a number of schools throughout her career to date. As she is passionate about all things Safeguarding and SEND, she always strives to share her knowledge with others whenever she can in order to support best practices becoming the norm in as many settings as possible.
Ben Levinson OBE FCCT – As Head Teacher, Ben Levinson led Kensington Primary School to being a flagship school in all manner of areas from inclusion to wellbeing. Under his leadership the school launched an innovative new curriculum, specifically developed to provide the best outcomes for children and prepare them for life in the 21st Century. Kensington was Primary School of the Year and Mental Health and Wellbeing School of the Year in 2020 and Ben was awarded an OBE in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his services to education. Ben is now an Executive Head Teacher within The Tapscott Learning Trust.
He has advised the Department for Education on workload and wellbeing and was part of the Expert Advisory Group responsible for the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter. He is a National Leader of Education, Chair of Well Schools, a Board member for Thrive at Five and an ambassador for the Youth Sport Trust, the British Council, and TeachActive.
Jenny Barksfield, Deputy CEO & Director of Education, PSHE Association – Jenny has worked in PSHE education for over 25 years. She was Head of PSHE and Citizenship at a large secondary school for 10 years before joining the Association team, initially as Training and Development Lead. She is now the PSHE Association’s Deputy CEO and Director of Education, leading on partnership projects with government departments, local authorities, MATs, charities, and corporate partners, as well as leading the Association’s team of subject specialists. Jenny’s team are the leading national experts in PSHE education, splitting their time between writing teaching resources and guidance, quality assuring materials from others, delivering training, and providing advice and support to members around the world. Jenny has a Post Graduate Certificate in Educational Research and her co-authored book Understanding PSHE education in secondary schools was published in October 2016.
Jan Forshaw, Head of Education, Coram Life Education – Jan began her career teaching across primary and middle schools, including senior leadership roles, in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Children’s wellbeing and mental health was always at the heart of her work as a teacher and influenced her move to children’s health and wellbeing charity Coram Life Education. She has been Head of Education at Coram Life Education since 2009, having been Director of Training and before that an educator and senior trainer. Jan oversees development of the diverse education programmes at Coram Life Education which include provision of high-quality education workshops in school and its acclaimed SCARF online PSHE (including statutory RSHE) curriculum. She understands that within education the teacher’s role is crucial in helping children to thrive – socially, physically, mentally and academically – and works hard to ensure that Coram Life Education’s ethos and practices prioritise relevant, practical and timely support for teachers, alongside the provision of the highest-quality, inspiring programmes and resources that children deserve and need, to be their best.
Cat Scutt MBE, Director for Education and Research, Chartered College of Teaching – A former English teacher, Cat’s roles have since focused on supporting teacher development both online and through face-to-face activities, with a particular focus on development through collaboration and through engagement with research and evidence. Cat leads on the Chartered College of Teaching’s work around teacher development and certification, including the Chartered Teacher programme, and their research activities and publications, including their award-winning peer-reviewed journal, Impact. She received an MBE for services to education in 2021 and has been a member of several government advisory groups.
Event attendees will have access not just to the event itself but to supporting materials and resources to help them embed effective practice in their schools.
Full membership information and the benefits of being a member of the Chartered College of Teaching can be found here
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