Epsom and Ewell High School is the first secondary school in the UK to achieve a gold award for its outstanding mental health provision. Assistant Head Chris Goodall explains how they approach health and wellbeing across the school.

Gold Standard

The number of young people experiencing mental health problems has rocketed in recent years, as most schools can testify. 

Yet figures from the Mental Health Foundation also show that around 70% of them are not receiving appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age (https://tinyurl.com/hoq8j2l). 

At Epsom and Ewell High School, we are intent on showing that schools can provide the necessary support to help young people overcome difficult periods in their lives. Our work has been recognised by a gold award from the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health (https://tinyurl.com/yb46cqgm) – run by the Carnegie School of Education and social enterprise Minds Ahead – and we were the first secondary school to achieve that standard. 

Like many schools, we see a range of mental health issues in our young people, with anxiety especially prevalent; there are times when a student cannot even enter a classroom because they are so anxious about where they are sitting, and we have also seen a rise in exam-related stress. Our school vision is built on a commitment to excellence in teaching and learning. If we want to achieve it authentically, early intervention for mental health and wellbeing issues is absolutely crucial and that means investing in this. Even though we are in a time when school budgets are extremely tight, we see it as a priority for us to use some of our funding to support this work.

The Wave

Our programme embraces the whole school: students in every year, all staff and, in terms of raising awareness, parents, too. It includes specialist mental health training for staff, governors and students, and a range of activities and services, internal and external. The Wave is the school’s dedicated support centre. Funded from the school budget, it features a big room with advice and guidance on posters and leaflets that students can take away, a meeting room and another with sofas and cushions plus two mini-cubicles where students may work on their own. It is managed by two highly trained and experienced support staff who are wellbeing professionals and specialists in safeguarding, and the school’s special educational needs team is also based there. They work with students who are experiencing issues that interrupt their learning, which could be anything from peer friendship issues, low confidence and self-esteem, to their involvement with social services, the police and child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Everything to do with the students and their wellbeing, including formal meetings with social workers, child protection or other external agencies, happens in The Wave.

The Services

A Student Mental Health Menu (https://tinyurl.com/yb5ezxls) is published on the school website, listing all the support and provision that is on offer to students in The Wave, so both they and their families have a clear, detailed picture of what support we offer and when they might need to seek help and advice. Publishing it as a menu has been key to making students and parents aware of the services because it is perceived as a formal offer rather than an assumed part of school life. Some students wouldn’t have known about what we can offer, otherwise. The menu is supplemented by information, advice and guidance that we share via the school’s social media platforms. The two Wave staff are the liaison point for all of the external agencies such as CAMHS, social workers and the police, who come in at various times, either regularly or by arrangement, to see students and do talks. We can pay for one-off interventions or other expertise, too. For example, if we have a problem with a group in one year who are constantly not getting on, we might bring in a specialist to work on conflict resolution. What’s distinctive about this is that the professionals are always dealing with the same two staff on health and wellbeing issues, rather than a range of class teachers, heads of year or pastoral support staff. The ongoing relationship and consistency are key.

Our school vision is built around a commitment to excellence in teaching and learning. If we want to achieve it authentically, early intervention for mental health and wellbeing issues is absolutely crucial and that means investing in this.

Training

A number of staff have also trained as mental health first aiders – we have people trained from senior level right down to support staff, including five heads of year and some TAs, who act as mental health champions as part of their everyday role. 

As senior teachers, part of our job is dealing with students whose learning is being affected by the issues they are facing personally. We sit and talk with them and that’s the essence of mental health first-aid: it’s not counselling; our role is to support. And if we think they need professional help of some kind, we turn to The Wave to put that in motion. 

Some of our sixth-formers are also trained as mental health ambassadors and they run sessions where students can drop in and talk to them at a set time. Students in Years 8, 9 and 10 are trained in how to raise awareness of mental health and they run a wellbeing week with events a couple of times a year. 

Staff trained as mental health first-aiders will also signpost their colleagues to regular wellbeing activities such as meditation, creative opportunities, Pilates sessions and sports activities. Wellbeing sessions are provided to staff every half-term.

The impact

It is obviously very difficult to assess the impact on attainment and progress of the work of The Wave and of our other mental health initiatives, independently from other strategies. But what we can say with some certainty is that both measures have improved since we began to focus closely on mental health and wellbeing. Disadvantaged learners make as much progress now as non-disadvantaged learners nationally and we have seen a significant impact on Pupil Premium students, many of whom have mental health issues, too. James Newman, our Headteacher, says: “Staff and students have worked hard to break down the stigmas surrounding mental health and have created a special environment within school which has had a hugely positive impact on teaching, learning and wellbeing. “As a result, we have seen an increase in the attendance of both students and staff, as well as extremely high staff retention rates. Students and staff enjoy coming to school which has had a positive impact on academic progress for all.”

Chris Goodall
Assistant Head at Epsom and Ewell High School
@EpsomEwellHigh
www.epsomandewellhighschool.com

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