Senior Mental Health Lead training: Improved support for pupils and staff

Shirley Warren Primary and Nursery School in Southampton is one of six schools that make up Bridge Education Trust. The school supports children aged 2 to 11 and prides itself on its creative approach to meeting pupils’ needs, ensuring every child has the best possible start to life and learning.

Faced with an increasing number of pupils struggling with their mental health, and limited services available through the local authority, headteacher Zoe Newton booked a place on Thrive’s Senior Mental Health Lead training.

Designed to support senior mental health leads to develop and implement a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing, the training enabled Zoe to audit the school’s offering and ensure that teaching around mental health is fully integrated into the PSHE and RHE curriculum. Conversations about wellbeing are now part of everyday life at the school, normalising talking about mental health for pupils and staff alike.

Bringing colleagues together for meaningful discussions has increased staff understanding and awareness of the school’s mental health and wellbeing provision as well as highlighting the external services available across the city. The process also shone a light on how much staff were already doing to support mental health and wellbeing and has since helped their Thrive Licensed Practitioners to successfully apply for Thrive Ambassador School status, achieving excellence in two areas so far.

Reflecting on the course, Zoe said: “The Thrive Mental Health Lead training is easy to access, understand and navigate. The sessions are spaced out to allow time to read, reflect and implement learning. While the training supported what I already knew and what we’re already doing, it sharpened my thinking and practice to ultimately improve provision for pupils and staff. I highly recommend!”

Join the 15,000+ schools tapping into funded training

If you’ve been inspired by Zoe’s story, and are ready to start or enhance your whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing, book your place on Thrive training today.

You're highly likely to be accepted for DfE funding if you’re a state school or college in England that hasn’t already accessed the grant, and you have a commitment from the senior leadership team to develop a whole school approach. (Second grants are also available if the person you previously trained has left your setting.)

Learn more and apply for funding