Sunderland primary school recruits clinical mental-health practitioners to support escalating number of children’s well-being issues

Grange Park Primary School in Monkwearmouth made the decision to buy in specialist support after a worrying escalation both nationally and locally in the number of children being referred to mental-health services.

NHS digital data shows in 2019/20 there were 4,490 under-18s referred to mental-health services in the NHS Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group area, compared with 3,175 children the previous year, which constitutes a 41% increase.

Nationally, data analysed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists found a 77% rise in the number of children needing treatment for a “severe mental-health crisis”.

After enlisting the help of Blue Mental Health Education and Training (BMHET), headteacher Francesca Cowan said: “One of the biggest challenges for schools is the number of children that need a high level of support in terms of their mental-health and anxieties and when we refer them into services, unfortunately there just isn’t the capacity.

“Often children are either put on a long waiting list for services that as we know have their own challenges being over-subscribed, or they're not put on a waiting list at all because of certain criteria, but they’re still in school presenting with anxieties and behaviours that need support.

"We, as teachers and school leaders, are trying to do everything we can with the skills we have. We’re investing both time and money into this training to get a number of support staff, including myself, trained up to a level where we know we can actually help the children in our school as they need it.”

Experts believe the situation will only have been exacerbated by the impact of the pandemic.

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Craig Thompson, co-director of BMHET and a children’s mental-health specialist, said: “Nationally, schools are facing significant challenges around meeting the mental-health needs of children and young people. Increasingly they’re being asked to support individuals with a wide variety of complex mental-health difficulties, which can be extremely challenging work, even for those of us with specialist training.

“Teachers and support staff in schools often have very limited training around children and young people’s mental-health. When schools begin to think about developing their expertise in this area, they are often met with a myriad of suggestions and initiatives, very few of which have been proven to be effective.

“We’ve been talking to lots of schools around the region and there is a common narrative. Schools are struggling to support children and young people with mental health difficulties and they need more specialist training and practical support in this area.”

The school has already been proactive in supporting children with both their mental well-being and special educational needs.

Special areas have been created such as The Hive, which supports children who work best in a smaller class setting, and The Nurture Base, which is used for small groups to access afternoon sessions to support with well-being and a space to talk.

According to a poll by the National Association of Head Teachers the number of schools in England seeking professional mental-health support for pupils has nearly doubled from 36 per cent to 66 per cent in three years.

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