Identifying Need and Monitoring Impact

• Staff have an understanding of and can identify children and young people that are more likely to experience health and wellbeing issues such as, children that frequently change school, young carers, children in care, LGBTQ+, refugees or children who have experienced bereavement, loss or trauma or ACEs.

• The setting uses information from a range of tools and services to understand the needs of the whole setting. 

• The school can access in-house tools to identify individual learner needs and measure impact: e.g. surveys, feedback forms, focus groups, programme or intervention specific.

• Staff are able to identify emerging emotional and mental health needs by building in daily opportunities to check-in with pupils and know the process for raising concerns.

• Relevant staff have access to training and good working knowledge of resources and toolkits that offer a 'graduated response' to identifying and supporting health and wellbeing issues.

• Procedures and pathways are in place to access further support including school-based or external support. 

• Integration or re-integration processes consider the health, wellbeing and SEND needs of learners.

• SLT and WAG are aware of OHID and DfE (Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and Department for Education) guidance on the 8 key principles of a whole school or college approach to Promoting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing

• SLT and WAG are aware of NICE guidance in relation to whole school approaches - Recommendations | Social, emotional and mental wellbeing in primary and secondary education | Guidance | NICE

• Somerset Schools Health & Wellbeing Survey can help to capture the voice and views of the settings learners, using this information to identify areas of need and strength at a school wide level - Somerset Schools Health & Wellbeing Survey

• The Anna Freud (CORC) toolkit will help school and college leaders make use of setting level data to identify the mental wellbeing needs of students and determine how best to address these. Includes video  and a 30min e-learning training - Measuring and monitoring children and young people’s mental wellbeing | Anna Freud

• This resource page provides information, strategies and e-learning to help understand the impact of ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences - Aces, Emotion Coaching And Trauma Informed Somerset (cypsomersethealth.org)

• Somersets graduated response tool: Quick Checker – Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH).
  Noticing concerns and identifying barriers within the Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) area of need - Quick Checker – Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) (somerset.gov.uk)

• Schools are critically important to pupils, their families and local communities. The Team Around the School model improves access to support from partners, and how this help is wrapped around families when they need it. Team around the school (connectsomerset.org.uk)

•    Are there clear routes for staff and learners about how and where to go if they have a concern?

•    How do designated wellbeing champions build and maintain their knowledge of appropriate interventions to support health and wellbeing including self-help information, resources, local support and advice?

•    Are there mechanisms in place to measure and review the impact of resources or interventions an individual setting level such as school-based counselling or peer support?

•    How might monitoring tools e.g. focus groups and snap surveys further inform the effectiveness of interventions?

•    How are the views of learners, parents / carers, staff and relevant stakeholders captured when reviewing health and wellbeing need and the impact of interventions?

•    Are there opportunities to share good practice between settings to improve the understanding of what works to reduce health and wellbeing need?

The following UNCRC (United Nations Rights of the Child) articles support this principle:

•          Article 2 - All children have these rights no matter what.

•      Article 6 - You have the right to life and to grow up to be healthy.

•      Article 13 - Your right to have information.

•      Article 19- You should not be harmed and should be looked after and kept safe.

•      Article 22 - Refugee children have the same rights as children born in the country they are now in.

•         Article 23 - Your right to special care and support if you have a disability so that you can lead a full and independent life.

•      Article 28 - Your right to learn and go to school.

•      Article 29 - Your right to become the best that you can be.

•      Article 33 - You should be protected from dangerous drugs.

•      Article 34 - The government should protect children from sexual abuse

When inspecting the quality of leadership in and management of the school Ofsted inspectors should consider how well the school meets the needs of all vulnerable groups of pupils. Assessing and responding to the emotional health and wellbeing needs of children and learners, and taking steps to mitigate the impact this has on their capacity to learn can provide supportive evidence in relation to all key judgement areas.

Inspectors will evaluate the experience of particular individuals and groups, such as pupils for whom referrals have been made to the local authority (and check, for a small sample of these pupils, how the referral was made and the thoroughness of the follow-up) this will include pupils with mental health needs. In order to do this, inspectors will look at the experience of a small sample of these pupils and consider the way the school is:

promoting mental health at a universal level

identifying those that may need help and providing support at school level

working with multi-agency colleagues to ensure that the child receives the support they need.

For pupils with SEND, this will include ensuring that appropriate reasonable adjustments are made in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 and the SEND code of practice.