Supporting pupil mental health: Anxiety : My College

This learning resource is part of a series of online micro learning units for teachers and school leaders on supporting pupil mental health and wellbeing in practice. The units offer insights into best practice in supporting children and young people, building on the latest evidence base. They are designed to develop knowledge around a range of topics that now form part of the statutory Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum, supporting teachers to consider how they might most effectively deliver these topics as part of the curriculum. Specifically, topics covered include:

Anxiety
Sleep and screen time
Bullying and loneliness
Trauma
Eating disorders
Self harm
Addiction
Bereavement
Social media / online usage.

These online micro learning units incorporate a range of content types to support professional learning and reflective practice, including:

Recordings from ‘Pedagogy in practice’ – a webinar series developed in partnership with The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) with a focus on how to teach key topics aligned with the RSHE curriculum
Access to a Padlet with ideas and resources shared by teachers
Case studies from practising teachers and school leaders and research reviews summarising the latest evidence base
Reflective questions to support learning and reading lists signposting further sources and support.

This online learning is being supported by the Bupa Foundation and the Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH).

Supporting pupil mental health and wellbeing in practice: Anxiety

Teachers have a role to play in supporting children and adolescents to understand anxiety as part of the new RSHE curriculum, as well as needing to feel confident that they can support pupils with anxiety and recognise the impact it may have on the children they work with. This micro learning unit includes articles and resources on supporting pupils to understand anxiety.

Webinar

Watch the presentation by Polly McMeeking (SEND Governor, Chaddesley Corbett Endowed Primary School) embedded below, and Shona McCann (Vice Principal, Riverside School) followed by a Q&A session with Jonathan Baggaley, CEO, PSHE Association, facilitated by Cat Scutt MBE, Director for Education and Research, Chartered College of Teaching. Further details can be found on the event page on our Video Hub.

Padlet

The Padlet below was used to share ideas and resources during the webinar

Case Studies

Hear about approaches to supporting pupils to understand anxiety. We invite you to make notes on the journey and approaches taken in these case studies to inform your own next steps and consider how you might apply some of these insights in your setting.

A whole-school approach to managing anxiety in children and young people

How can we use wellbeing opportunities to positively impact pupils’ ability to self-regulate in a Year 3 classroom?

Common causes of anxiety for pupils with autism and how to address them

Whole-school approach to pre-emptively reduce anxiety by prioritising wellbeing

Supporting students with school avoidance behaviours and providing mental health and wellbeing support to Year 11 students

Research Review

This research review contains practical suggestions on how to recognise signs of mental health concerns, and strategies for coping with anxiety.

Anxiety: Supporting pupil mental health in practice

Reflective questions

Having engaged with the resources above, reflect on these questions to develop your knowledge about anxiety and how to support pupils in your setting.

In what ways has this learning resonated with your existing knowledge about anxiety or perhaps shifted your thinking?
Do you think a similar approach that focuses on the physical environment could work in your setting?
What strategies for coping with anxiety do you currently use with your students? What new strategies might you begin to apply in your context?
What topics or themes currently cause most anxiety in your students (e.g. exams, climate change, COVID) and how could these approaches help?
What areas would you like to prioritise learning more about?

Supporting pupil mental health: Anxiety