Friday 03 May 2019
The Committee for Education, Sports and Culture recognise that positive mental health and wellbeing is important for our learners as the children and young people they are now, and the adults they will become.
The new Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing in Schools Policy is the result of extensive consultation with a broad range of stakeholders including school mental health and wellbeing leads, Head teachers, relevant staff from both Education Services and Health, and Union representatives. The policy is designed to provide clarity for States schools, Education Services and mental health and wellbeing services in Guernsey and Alderney, with a focus on support, promoting good mental health & wellness and appropriate intervention.
Schools have a duty to promote and support the positive mental health and wellbeing of all learners and staff. This duty is in keeping with significant national and international documents noting that schools who contribute to a whole community approach to positive mental health and wellbeing can have a positive impact on the development of knowledge and skills, educational outcomes, and brain and physical development. It is also widely evidenced that a child's mental health and wellbeing impacts on personal contentment, social interaction and mental wellbeing in adulthood.
Helen Banks, Mental Health & Wellbeing Co-ordinator, said:
"The new Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing in Schools Policy is a wonderful example of the renewed commitment to have a shared understanding of what is meant by 'mental health', and to really unpack what we mean when we say that we are, as an Education Service for young people in Guernsey, committed to both universal, proactive strategies and individual, targeted interventions."
Deputy Matt Fallaize, President of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture, said:
"This new policy represents a commitment to a whole community approach to mental health and wellbeing and to help all learners and staff by providing a framework for the promotion of good mental health and wellbeing in schools and the community."
