The general secretary of NAHT Paul Whiteman said that the week-long event run by children’s mental health charity Place2Be is ‘more vital this year than ever’ due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Highlighting the deep concern felt by school leaders on how lockdowns, isolation and bereavement have affected their pupils over the last year, Whiteman said that schools face a ‘significant challenge’ moving forward to support children’s recovery.
He continued: ‘Schools will of course be putting a huge amount of effort into ensuring that the wellbeing of all pupils is supported, but there will be children and young people for whom the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has created more serious levels of concern.
‘These pupils may need additional, more targeted support and they will likely need more specialist help from health or social care services.’
Last week, the children’s commissioner Anne Longfield warned that children’s mental health services in England are ‘unable to meet demand’, with referrals during the pandemic rising 35% but treatments only increasing by 4%.
Speaking on behalf of NAHT, Whiteman referenced the struggling services: ‘Unfortunately, these services were stretched before the pandemic, having been as starved of funding as education over the last decade. Now is the time for [the] government to invest in supporting children’s mental health.
‘Schools cannot do it alone. Without all the resources and services that should be there to help [us] operate efficiently and effectively together, the government risks failing children just as they most need help.’
What resources are available this week?
Despite this urgent need for funding, charities, arts organisations and others have curated activities and resources to support children during Children’s Mental Health Week and beyond. Here’s a small selection:
- Research has shown that music can have a positive impact on mental health. (If you are a music teacher, you probably don’t need research to tell you that.) So, any of the free resources on the ‘live’ list we created at the start of the third lockdown will be useful.
- Place2Be have themed this year’s event ‘Express Yourself’, producing free resources which can be adapted for use in schools, at home, online, or for independent learning.
- BBC Teach has created a ‘Bring the Noise‘ page for Children’s Mental Health Week, filled with accessible information about why music is so important to our mental wellbeing, as well as plenty of resources.
- Young Voices, Billy Ocean, YolanDa Brown and Ruti Olajugbagbe have released a new charity single, with all UK profits going to Place2Be. The recording of Bill Withers’ Lovely Day is available to download via iTunes or Amazon and can be listened to on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and deezer.
- Former primary school teacher Laura Steele from PlanBee has gathered a week’s worth of free resources into one downloadable pack. Each day covers different topics including dealing with physical sensations, using emojis to describe your mood, worry and anxiety, deep breathing, mediation, developing a growth mindset, and thinking about what we are thankful for.
- Music Mark has a page dedicated to ‘Supporting Wellbeing and Mental Health’, which isn’t specifically aimed at children, but there are lots of useful music-related resources linked there, which could easily be adapted.
- Emily Coxhead from The Happy Newspaper has produced three free resource packs for helping children stay positive in creative and fun ways.
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