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Promote positive attitudes to physical and mental health and wellbeing across the school

Measuring Impact and Success

To evidence success against this benchmark, you should be able to show that your school is effective in promoting positive attitudes and raising awareness about wellbeing and mental health.   

You might do this by showing better understanding among pupils about the factors that could influence wellbeing, increased confidence to report worries, or improvements in children’s knowledge about how to support others’ wellbeing. It may be helpful to use ‘before and after’ measures such as questionnaires to show improvement in particular areas.  

Some examples might include: 

  • records of progress towards aims outlined in your school’s vision for wellbeing 
  • feedback from pupils or staff about the positive impact of your school’s involvement in wellbeing related campaigns or events 
  • staff accounts of improvements they have noticed in pupil behaviour related to wellbeing interventions 
  • staff accounts of improvements in attitudes to wellbeing and in particular, readiness to talk about mental health and related worries 
  • children and young people’s accounts of how they have supported the wellbeing of others 
  • examples of pupils’ work demonstrating their understanding of the principles of positive physical and mental health 
  • evidence of pupils’ increased awareness of sources of support or information about wellbeing and mental health gathered from questionnaires, surveys, focus groups, etc 
  • feedback from pupils about what they like about and what they have learned from regular wellbeing activities. 

Remember in each case to describe the impact of your actions (that is, what difference they made) and not just what you did. 

Overview

Any work to support pupil wellbeing and mental health will be more successful if the school promotes its commitment to it widely. This is particularly important for reducing stigma so that pupils are happy to come forward and ask for help.

It is also a key part of a ‘preventative’ approach that aims to support children and young people to develop the knowledge and skills to support their own wellbeing and that of others. Encouraging discussion around the importance of good physical and mental health, as well as providing information that pupils can access independently, helps to foster an atmosphere in which sharing concerns and seeking support are seen positively. 

 

Intentions

Intentions are actions you intend to take in order to improve your provision in this benchmark. Choose three intentions to focus on.

An excellent way to signal commitment, raise awareness and ensure a consistency of approach to promoting wellbeing is to involve your whole community in devising a vision statement. This should be shared widely around your school. 

Your statement should describe your vision for promoting physical and mental health across the school together with any aims for development. You might also want to reference things like: 

  • the importance of taking a proactive approach to supporting physical and mental health 
  • the links between emotional wellbeing and attainment 
  • that your school encourages everyone to talk about wellbeing and mental health 
  • the importance of listening to the views of children and young people and ensuring that they inform your school’s approach to promoting wellbeing. 

Top tips  

  • Consult pupils, staff, parents and governors about what they feel are the key elements to include in your vision statement and share drafts with pupils for their feedback.   
  • Publish your vision statement on the school website, display it around the school and share it via newsletters, assemblies, pupil and staff handbooks, etc. 
  • Consider, in particular, how to communicate your vision to harder-to-reach groups or younger pupils. Use images or games and consider how, for example, you could use examples from stories or films to exemplify your school’s approach to promoting wellbeing. 
  • Regularly review your vision statement to ensure that it keeps pace with the needs across your school.   
  • Monitor your progress towards the aims identified in your vision statement and update these as necessary. 
  • In particular, involve pupils in exemplifying it around your school.   

Templates 

When considering your priorities and what you want to achieve in terms of wellbeing, it may help to consider the 10 elements or dimensions that contribute to holistic wellbeing.  

To demonstrate support for wellbeing, schools can link to a range of national and international awareness-raising events. Among many others, these include:  

Use these opportunities to run awareness campaigns aimed at reducing the stigma around health issues and promoting healthy choices. Engaging with such events on a regular basis helps to emphasise the importance your school places on supporting wellbeing. Ideas include: 

  • Establish an annual wellbeing festival that includes opportunities for pupils and families to learn about supporting health and wellbeing and take part in activities. These could include information about local support and counselling services, nutrition, sports activities, oral health, yoga, mindfulness, etc. 
  • Invite local and national charities and practitioners to talk about their work with both children and parents. 
  • Organise fundraising events to support wellbeing initiatives – for example, #HelloYellow day. #HelloYello is the campaign run by the charity YoungMinds to promote World Mental Health Day.  
  • Establish your own wellbeing weeks when pupils are given time off from their usual timetable to experience a range of wellbeing activities and events as well as visits and guest speakers. 

Top tips 

  • Many organisations provide free resources to support a range of activities in school. 
  • Produce a ‘wellbeing calendar’ and display it throughout your school to raise awareness about national and international events related to wellbeing. 
  • Use assemblies, social media, etc to regularly promote events – even those in which your school is not actively participating – and signpost pupils and families to related resources and activities. 

Further resources 

Two useful calendars for UK and international mental health events: 

To encourage young people’s involvement and commitment to promoting wellbeing, you can involve them in activities such as: 

  • designing posters and displays for classrooms and around the school 
  • compiling information leaflets/other materials which can be shared with parents or other pupils  
  • contributing their own wellbeing tips and advice for inclusion in school planners or elsewhere around the school 
  • designing ‘shout-out boards’ or other means of acknowledging how others have helped to support their wellbeing. 

This work could: 

  • be linked to particular events or designed to raise awareness about the benefits of healthy nutrition and physical activity 
  • include activities to boost mental health such as mindfulness 
  • promote positive affirmations and ideas linked to developing resilience and supporting others, etc   
  • be used to exemplify the school’s wellbeing vision statement. 

Top tips 

  • Many schools use displays such as kindness or friendship trees that can be constantly added to and help children and young people to focus on kind and helpful acts.  
  • Consider how different pupils can be involved in exemplifying the school’s vision and aims for wellbeing. For example: younger children could design posters and other materials based around stories or familiar characters from films or TV programmes who exemplify key aspects of wellbeing such as kindness, resilience or empathy; older pupils could consider the 10 elements of wellbeing and develop materials related to some or all of these. 

A good way to ensure a holistic approach to supporting pupil wellbeing is to bring together a group of representatives from across your school to share knowledge and ideas. 

The group should include pupils as well as teaching and non-teaching staff and perhaps governor and parent representatives. There should also be at least one member of the SLT to ensure that discussions are effectively relayed and to assist the implementation of the group’s suggestions. 

Depending on the age and profile of your pupils, you might want to establish a separate pupil group where they can discuss issues in the most accessible way. The pupils can feed back to the wider group themselves.  

The group could be involved in activities such as: 

  • leading on the development of the school’s vision for wellbeing  
  • canvassing pupil views by devising and administering questionnaires, convening focus groups or other means of consultation 
  • developing ideas for whole-school projects or campaigns to promote wellbeing 
  • using their combined knowledge to conduct a SWOT analysis of current wellbeing provision to identify any gaps and suggest how these could be addressed. For example: 
  • Is the range of provision appropriate to pupil needs?  
  • Are you confident that all pupils know how and where to access support?  
  • Do staff need additional training to ensure they are fully confident to support pupil wellbeing?   

Ensure that the outcomes of the group’s discussions – and particularly any feedback from consultations and actions taken as a result – are regularly shared with the whole school. 

Top tips 

  • Where it is not possible for pupils to be directly involved in the wellbeing group (for example, in nurseries or some special schools), appoint an advocate to work with them and feedback their views to the main group, ideally with the involvement of the young people themselves.     
  • Where appropriate, children can be videoed or recorded sharing their views – or use other means such as photographs or drawings to share their concerns. 

Ensuring that pupils have access to additional support or advice not only helps them deal with any wellbeing issues they may be experiencing but also affirms your school’s commitment to promoting wellbeing.   

The information made available from external organisations is not a substitute for in-school support, but pupils and their families may also want confidential or specialist advice that is not available via the school. While pupils can be referred by school staff, many may prefer to seek this independently. 

Here are some ways you could provide this information: 

  • Create a wellbeing page on your school website. Make sure this can easily be accessed via the main menu. As well as posting links to resources and support, use this wellbeing page to clarify the help available in school. 
  • Display details of organisations widely around your school, including them in handbooks and homework diaries and referencing them in assemblies and lessons. 
  • Use social media to promote mental health support links. Many schools use Twitter, Facebook or other accounts to regularly communicate with pupils and families. Use these to highlight relevant campaigns, activities or provision or to remind pupils about helpline numbers and useful websites.  

You can also include positive information and advice that supports wellbeing (mindfulness, healthy eating, etc.) as well as helplines and other support. 

Top tips 

  • Keep your website dynamic with regular updates about wellbeing events and top tips for supporting physical and mental health. 
  • Seek out local sources of support as well as national organisations and websites. 
  • Post information in places where pupils can note any contact details, etc. confidentially – for example, in toilet cubicles. 

Further resources 

  • Use this list of useful contacts provided by the mental health charity, Mind, as a starting point for developing your own. 

As well as running special events and activities and addressing issues via assemblies and lessons, you can plan to offer regular times every week for activities that benefit pupil wellbeing. 

You could offer a weekly ‘wellbeing day’ (‘Mindful Monday’, ‘Wellbeing Wednesday’ or ‘Thoughtful Thursday’) where pupils can take part in a range of activities designed to enhance wellbeing. Alternatively, set aside a regular slot every day. After lunch or break – or for older pupils, during tutor or form sessions – may be appropriate times. 

Depending on resources, you could offer a menu of options or a different single activity each day. In all cases, focus on providing a range of options to suit all pupils. While the focus should be on enjoyment rather than imparting information, aim for activities that children and young people can use to support their own wellbeing outside of the sessions. 

Think broadly about what a session might include. Mindfulness, relaxation, yoga, healthy cooking and the ‘daily mile’ are just a few activities that pupils could take part in. 

Top tips 

  • Bring in outside organisations and specialists to lead sessions as appropriate. 
  • Allocate a budget for wellbeing activities to facilitate their planning and delivery. 
  • Consider any links you can develop between wellbeing activities and the curriculum to support and reinforce key messages. 
  • Canvas staff and parents to see what skills are available in-house to support your programme of activities. 

 

Reflection
  • Do all pupils understand the value the school places on promoting wellbeing and good physical and mental health? 
  • Do pupils understand the links between good mental health, positive relationships and success in life? 
  • Are all pupils given opportunities to take part in activities that promote the importance of wellbeing? 
  • How can pupils influence the planning and development of wellbeing work across your school? 
  • How does your school ensure that the information about wellbeing, mental and physical health and related support is appropriate to your pupils’ needs? 
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