Whole-school approach to pre-emptively reduce anxiety by prioritising wellbeing
Written By: Cara Carey and Christopher Terry
5 min read
Cara Carey, Development Lead, Teach First, UK
Christopher Terry, Development Lead, Teach First, UK
The negative impact of mental health conditions on academic performance is well documented (Agnafors et al, 2021). It is logical therefore to try to address this pre-emptively, ensuring that students are happy and supported at school, rather than only addressing mental health when students are in crisis or need professional support. Weare and Markham (2005) advocate for taking a whole-school approach to mental health support. Across a range of British schools in the UK and overseas, we have implemented strategies that can be rolled out as whole-school preventative support. Figure 1 below summarises our approach, with the pre-emptive measures (the focus of this case study) in purple, and more targeted and personalised follow up in blue.
Figure 1: Whole-school approach to mental health support
When I took on the role of Head of Sixth Form in a mixed-comprehensive school in W
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References
- Agnafors S, Barmark M and Sydsjö G (2021) Mental health and academic performance: a study on selection and causation effects from childhood to early adulthood. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiol 56: 857–866.
- Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) (2017) Improving children’s learning by improving the quality of classroom talk.
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- Weare K and Markham W (2005) What do we know about promoting mental health through schools? Global Health Promotion 12(3–4): 118–122.
- Weare K and Nind M (2011) Mental health promotion and problem prevention in schools: what does the evidence say? Health Promotion International 26(1): i29-i69.
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