Identifying need and monitoring impact
To support pupils to thrive, a whole school approach to mental health and emotional wellbeing should be embedded according to the unique needs of the school community. It is also important that the outcomes of any initiatives and interventions are measured and their impact monitored.
Understanding the needs of the whole school community is key to becoming a school where pupils and staff thrive and where they are all supported to manage their emotional health and wellbeing. In order to ensure that the interventions and processes in place are meeting the needs of the school community and having a positive effect, monitoring impact is also important.
Thriving
A school that is thriving in this area will:
- use a tool such as the West Sussex Whole School Approach to Wellbeing Reflective Tool and Guidance Booklet or the Whole School and College Approach Measurement Toolkit to identify their areas of strength and areas for development
- use the pupil version of the Reflective Tool to understand pupil views about the school’s whole school approach to mental health and emotional wellbeing
- use the Whole School Approach Outcome Measures Tool to measure the efficacy of any whole-school MHEW provision
- use a range of methods to collect pupil views around mental health and wellbeing to inform WSA planning
- use a range of methods to collect data about pupil MHEW across cohorts
- use validated tools to identify early signs of mental health difficulties in individual pupils
- regularly monitor staff wellbeing and feedback the outcomes and actions to staff and governors
- liaise with parents to gather their views about WSA to MHEW provision in the school.
Identifying need and monitoring impact
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- The Anna Freud Mentally Healthy Schools Resource Hub provides whole school approach resources.
- The Wellbeing Index developed by The Children’s Society. Questionnaires are available free-of-charge to schools.
- Based on Prof. Martin Seligman’s PERMAH model, wellbeing surveys for staff, children, and young people.
- West Sussex County Council have created an audit tool that may be useful. Optional additional materials for the Reflective Tool including in-depth questions, pupil versions of the tool, and staff questionnaires.
- Tool to measure the outcome of whole-school mental health initiatives, developed by The University of Sussex, Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust, and The Charlie Waller Trust.
Additional reading and research
- Acceptability and Feasibility of Early Identification of Mental Health Difficulties in Primary Schools
- Best practice review of whole school approach (WSA) in the South-East of England
- Feasibility of School-Based Identification of Children and Adolescents Experiencing, or At-risk of Developing, Mental Health Difficulties
- Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) acceptability and validation in English and Scottish secondary school students (The WAVES Project)