This month, the Department of Education (DfE) announced its plans to invest in significant reform to ensure that the right systems are in place to protect children and their families. Its commitment of £200 million of additional investment over the next two years is a key indicator of the important role that safeguarding plays in schools across the UK, particularly regarding mental health and wellbeing.
We spoke to Michelle Keeling, Safeguarding and Wellbeing Lead at the Vine Schools Trust, about the various ways in which effective safeguarding strategies can help create a culture of healthy mental wellbeing in schools.
In my role as Safeguarding and Wellbeing Lead, I work with Headteachers and Senior Leaders across the Vine Schools Trust to ensure that all our children feel safe and supported in school.
One of the things that has struck me most since returning to school post-lockdown is the lasting impact that the pandemic has had on families. It’s clear that the ‘new normal’, for many families, is worrying about how best to support themselves and their children in an unpredictable social climate. I can confidently say that I have never noticed a time in my experience in education where the national and global picture has affected what’s happening in schools quite as much as it is now. World issues like the ongoing war in Ukraine and the climate crisis are at the forefront of everyone’s minds, not to mention the economic uncertainties of the current cost of living crisis.
I have recently enrolled on an advanced mental health lead project, which has seen me embark on a mission to ensure that the Trust provides the right culture and the right backdrop to support its schools with the mental health of their pupils, teachers, parents and carers.
In recent months, it’s become clear that adult mental health is transferring onto the mental health of their children. This is because that child’s ‘safe person’, the person who they rely on to give them the security to flourish, is struggling to support themselves. As a Trust, it’s our job to understand these struggles so that we can put the right support in place at the right time. This goes beyond the standard safeguarding measures we adopt in schools, such as ensuring that fences around the playground are secure and that visitors sign in with identity tags when they visit the school. Of course, these are important. But we need to make sure that our schools are seen as safe spaces where pupils, staff, parents and carers can share their struggles without being judged.
I recently set up a Trust-wide network for Designated Safeguarding Leads, who work within schools to create a safe environment where mental wellbeing is a key point of focus. As a group, we focus on a range of different topics, including mental health, and look at strategies which will support schools to be the best they can be.
A large part of my job has been to make sure that the Trust is setting a good example for its schools with regard to creating a healthy culture, which we’ve tried to achieve by setting the right policies in place.
We don’t just have a standard behaviour policy, for example. We’ve implemented a ‘Behaviour and Relationships’ policy which encourages staff members to focus on what a child’s behaviour tells them about that child without making any assumptions. While some displays of misbehaviour can be the result of a child struggling to deal with a particular emotion, others can be an indication of mental health problems or a cry for help.
Encouraging schools to focus on the wider picture behind a child’s behavioural issues can help staff create a support plan which caters specifically to that child’s emotional needs.
Taking mental wellbeing into account when the Trust provides training, new policies and documentation is all part of our plan to raise its profile across the school network.
Every interaction, no matter how small, is an opportunity to make a connection, celebrate success, or grow a sense of belonging. I’ve been encouraging staff to reach out and make a new connection with someone every week so that their support network is always growing.
As the Safeguarding and Wellbeing Lead, I try to facilitate this as often as possible by bringing leaders across the Trust together to celebrate their successes and learn from one another. This is a real luxury of my position, as I can help guide leaders to other schools where they can see successful mental wellbeing programmes in action. During these visits, Headteachers can pick up on certain aspects of another school’s wellbeing provision and adapt them to suit the needs of their own children.
Staff at St James’ Church of England Primary School in Colchester, for example, have introduced regulation spaces in classrooms where children can go and sit quietly for a few minutes if they’re feeling overwhelmed. Since the pandemic, we are seeing a lot more children who are struggling to regulate their emotions, with many becoming so distressed that they want to come out of class. Creating these spaces where children can step away from the classroom and do some breathing exercises is a practice that other schools across the Trust are now replicating after seeing the positive impact it was having on children’s wellbeing in St James’.
JOHN 15:5
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Registered address: The Diocese of Chelmsford Vine Schools Trust, Diocesan Offices, 53, New Street, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1AT.
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