School win Silver

Forest School scoop Silver award in Mental Health for Schools from Carnegie Centre of Excellence.

We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded a Silver Mental Health Award from the Carnegie Centre of Exellence for Mental Health in Schools.

The Carnegie Centre of Excellence at Leeds Beckett University is the first of its kind to be established in the UK and exists to strengthen the mental health of the next generation by supporting schools to make a positive change at all levels of the UK’s education system thereby improving outcomes and life chances.

The awards process is a year-long and very thorough process. Rebecca Kay, Head of Wellbeing and Jeff Kayne, Deputy Head of Pastoral led the submission from Forest School; however they are clear that, it would not have been possible to achieve this accolade without leadership support and a wider team behind them.

Rebecca Kay said:

“The award process gave us a framework to self-evaluate our mental health provision across the whole school. When conducting the evaluation, it was reassuring to know that many wellbeing initiatives were already in place. The Thrive network, the provision of full-time counselling on site, wellbeing lessons on the timetable, parent wellbeing forums and the wellbeing ambassadors programme were all highly commended initiatives.

The provision of wellbeing for staff was also commended along with our comprehensive Coaching programme for staff. The Awards Panel also recognised that all staff are fully trained in Mental Health Safety and that our House System; Pastoral Tutor System and Safeguarding procedures are excellent.

One of the stand-out commendations from the Carnegie Centre of Excellence was that within the School the culture of wellbeing is firmly embedded. Conversations between and among staff, pupils and parents about wellbeing are evident and widespread.”

Jeff Kayne said:

‘We are absolutely delighted to have attained the Silver award. Over the last 3-4 years, we have been working very hard to ensure that mental health and wellbeing are at the very top of our agenda and securing the award encourages us to strive for even more in the delivery of high impact pastoral care to promote best outcomes for pupils, staff, parents and the wider community’