Pupil mental health and wellbeing - Governors for Schools

Resources for school governors

Wellbeing governors champion mental health and wellbeing for the whole school. They keep mental health and wellbeing on the agenda by asking questions about the school’s provision and support.

We’re here to support you as a wellbeing governor so that children’s and young people’s mental health is looked after at school.

eLearning course: Children’s and young people’s mental health and wellbeing

Wellbeing Governors: children’s and young people’s mental health and wellbeing is the first of three eLearning modules we are producing as part of our Wellbeing Governors campaign. It looks at some of the most common mental health issues that children and young people experience and what school leaders and school governors can do to promote wellbeing and improve mental health in schools.

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Pupil wellbeing webinars

Supporting pupil wellbeing from a strategic position

This webinar considered how school governors can support pupil wellbeing from their strategic position, rather than operationally. The first half of the webinar was led by The Key for School Governors, while the second half of the webinar featured governance experts and a Q&A with those in the wellbeing link governor role.

Watch the webinar

Pupil wellbeing: a panel discussion on the return to school following lockdown

We kicked off our year-long focus on mental health and wellbeing in schools with a panel-style webinar. Mental health professionals and thought leaders in the sector came together to talk about pupil wellbeing on the return to school following lockdown.

Watch the webinar

Self-review activity – Pupil wellbeing post-Covid-19

We’ve created a self-review for school governors to assess their school’s response to pupil wellbeing in the post-Covid-19 period.

It’s interactive, so you can complete the review online and download the PDF to share with your governing board.

Start your self-review

Questions for school governors to ask school leaders about pupil mental health and wellbeing

We’ve put together two lists of example questions for school governors to ask to find out what mental health and wellbeing provision in the school is like, and how it can be as effective as possible.

Questions to ask around the return to school post Covid-19 lockdown

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Questions to ask about mental health and wellbeing provision more generally

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Supporting pupil wellbeing from a strategic position

We’ve put together some key points raised during our webinar panel about supporting pupil wellbeing from a strategic position. Read the summary for an overview of the discussion.

Summary: Supporting pupil wellbeing from a strategic position

Blogs

How can school governors help protect LGBT pupils’ mental health and wellbeing?

This guest blog from Stonewall discusses why it’s important that schools have a particular focus on LGBT pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, and the role school governors can play in ensuring this happens.

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What do wellbeing governors do and what experience do you need?

Learn more about the role of the wellbeing governor, and how to become a link governor for wellbeing.

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Why do schools need a wellbeing governor – and how do you become one?

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Pupil mental health and wellbeing Q&A with Kingmoor School

Kingmoor Infant and Nursery School recently became the first school in Cumbria to be awarded the AcSEED Award. Headteacher Nicky Corfield and Youth Mental Health Champion Nikki Hall, answer some of our questions about their school’s approach to mental health and wellbeing in this Q&A.

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How will the return to school affect children and young people’s mental health and how can governors support this?

School governors have a strategic role, so they’re crucial in helping a school focus on mental health and wellbeing when it really matters.

Read the blog

Questions for school governors

We’ve worked with children’s mental health charity Place2Be to equip school governors with the knowledge to make a positive impact on children’s mental health and wellbeing in schools. These questions from Place2Be are a guide for school governors so that they can ask relevant questions about their school’s mental health strategy.

Read the questions

Wellbeing governor role description

Mental health and wellbeing is an integral undertaking in schools and needs to be considered throughout all aspects of the school experience. The link governor role creates a connection between the governing board and the wider school/Trust and is focused on supporting the school to embed its mental health and wellbeing provision across the entire school.

Open the wellbeing link governor role description as a PDF

Pupil wellbeing – resources from partner organisations

Read guidance for school governors on the COVID-19 pandemic and access wellbeing resources.