Registrations are open for a free, five-week course that will help school staff to support positive mental health – for pupils and colleagues.

Run by charity Place2Be, the Mental Health Champions Foundation Programme can be completed online at a time to suit the participant, with the content broken down into 15-minute sections.

A Place2Be professional joins each group to facilitate discussions and support the online learning.

Originally launched in August last year, the programme aims to build the skills and capacity of education professionals to support whole-school wellbeing, including staff wellbeing and community support.

The course is being offered offer to qualified teachers and school-based staff in the UK.

Those who complete the programme are also able to join the Place2Be Staffroom to access free resources, a community of support and Place2Be expertise.

Since August, 50,000 teachers and school staff have taken part in the course with 91 per cent of participants saying that it has increased their capacity to lead a positive approach to mental health and wellbeing.

Furthermore, 73 per cent said that they learned something in the course that resulted in a change in their actions, behaviour or attitude in their workplace.

Place2Be has worked with Hive Learning, a peer learning platform, to set-up the online course, which has been funded by the Law Family Charitable Foundation, Baillie Gifford, the Wimbledon Foundation, and Morgan Stanley.

The programme is open for new registrations until June 4, after which Place2Be is taking registrations to be on the waiting list for next year.

Place2Be is a children's mental health charity providing school-based support and in-depth training programmes to improve the emotional wellbeing of pupils, families, teachers and school staff.