The timing is poignant for schools particularly as it coincides with exam season and the additional stresses that this brings.
Next week is Mental Health Week. The timing is poignant for schools particularly as it coincides with exam season and the additional stresses that this brings.
Tes have reported today that the mental health crisis in young people is worsening and that a child self-harming is no longer considered a priority for CAMHS who are themselves struggling to provide the support needed to young people who may be suicidal.
Knowing this to be the case how does it affect the school’s duty of care to its students? The school is the first point of contact in many cases and the importance of identifying concerns is increasingly important.
This can be done in a variety of ways but maybe the most important action is to be able to talk openly about the importance of mental health across the school community in a supportive and positive way.
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Regardless of the outcome of ballots on industrial action, unless there is drastic change to funding for schools in relation to pay increases, it will be unusual to find any organisational budget that is not impacted by the current economic situation.
There’s been little evidence of interventions or financial management reviews this year and it appears the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has re-focussed on financial delivery. It’s also telling that there were no discernible changes to the reporting of financial irregularities in the Academies Trust Handbook 2022.
The Children’s Commissioner, Rachel De Souza, has recently published a report “Beyond the labels: a SEND system which works for every child, every time”, which she intends to sit alongside the DfE’s SEND Review (2019) and SEND Green Paper (2022) and which she hopes will put children’s voices at the heart of the government’s review of SEND system.
