Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to ensure secondary school students are supported with their mental health.

The mental health of children and young people is a priority for this government. The department is committed to ensuring that all schools are safe, calm and supportive environments, which promote mental wellbeing and provide early, targeted support to help all pupils thrive.

To ensure pupils are supported, the department is offering all primary schools, secondary schools and colleges a grant to train senior mental health leads who can put in place effective, whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing. More than 13,800 schools and colleges have now received a senior mental health lead training grant.

It is also vital that children and young people have the tools they need to understand and look after their own mental wellbeing. That is why, as of September 2020, our relationships, health and sex education curriculum has a strong focus on mental health and wellbeing. At primary, pupils will learn simple self-care techniques, including the importance of rest, time spent with friends and family and the benefits of hobbies and interests. At secondary, teaching will include the benefits of community participation, and voluntary and service-based activities on mental wellbeing and happiness.

Through health education, pupils will also be taught how to recognise the early signs of mental wellbeing concerns, including common types of mental ill health, such as anxiety and depression.  They will also be taught where and how to seek support, including whom in school they should speak to if they are worried about their own or someone else’s mental wellbeing or ability to control their emotions.

We are also increasing the number of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) working in schools and colleges. These teams offer support to children and young people experiencing common mental health issues and facilitate smoother access to external specialist support. As of March 2023, 3.4 million pupils and learners were covered by MHSTs in schools and colleges in England. Of these, 3.1 million were pupils in schools.

We welcome the findings of the Independent Early Evaluation of Children and Young People’s Mental Health MHST Trailblazer Programme, which revealed substantial progress in implementing MHSTs, despite challenges presented by the pandemic. The findings can be found at: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/brace/projects/children-and-young-people%27s-mental-health-trailblazer-programme.aspx. Positive early impacts include improved school and college staff knowledge and confidence in dealing with mental health issues, improved access to support for some groups, and improvements in partnership working. The study also found the experiences of the majority of children and young people who had contact with an MHST were positive. The results of the report will continue to help inform future rollout and mobilisation of MHSTs to support the mental health and emotional wellbeing of children and young people.

Further data on the delivery and uptake of MHSTs and senior mental health lead training grants can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision.