Abstract

Wallsend Children’s Community (WCC) ‘is made up of key people and services in children’s lives (like schools, housing groups and health and housing associations), who work together on co-ordinated plans to significantly improve outcomes for children growing up in poverty’ (WCC Website). Over the last two years WCC has been working with local schools to support the development of a Whole-School Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing (MHW). As part of this, surveys were distributed by WCC to local schools, which indicated concern from schools that young people’s MHW as worsening (WCC blog). Attendance surveys also indicate that parents are increasingly keeping children at home in relation to MHW. To help address this, schools will need their own plans to respond to presenting issues in their schools. This was the basis for the proposition of this research study.