How can we help support wellbeing in schools?

In this week's episode, we discuss the mental health crisis affecting staff in schools and look at some of the best ways to help develop a supportive wellbeing culture in schools. David talks with Hilary Plant and John Ansell, both experts in their own fields and experienced at providing support for schools in this area.

Hilary is a local authority governor at a North London primary school. In addition to being the vice chair, link governor for SEND and inclusion and wellbeing governor, she is also a practising psychotherapist and has worked for many years in public health as a cancer nurse, researcher and senior manager.

John is an expert trainer specialising in data machine learning and data science and a leadership coach, who has worked for numerous schools and education groups on one-to-one coaching with leaders, mostly in the independent sector.

Some of the resources and websites mentioned in this episode include:

The Education Staff Wellbeing Charter can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter

On The Key, you can find a series of articles on workload and staff wellbeing, including a toolkit for line managers, You can sign up for a trial to access 3 free articles: https://schoolleaders.thekeysupport.com/staff/managing-school-staff/staff-wellbeing/

The Anna Freud Institute: https://www.annafreud.org/resources/schools-and-colleges/ten-ways-to-support-school-staff-wellbeing/

You can find John Ansell's coaching website here: https://www.johnansellcoaching.com/my-story

If you are concerned about your welfare or the welfare of someone else, please reach out to speak to a trusted friend or colleague. You can also contact the Samaritans for free at any time day or night on 116 123: https://www.samaritans.org/?nation=scotland

You can find out about the NEU (National Education Union) mental health charter here: https://neu.org.uk/latest/library/mental-health-charter

If you have any questions for the team, want to clarify anything we misunderstood or add further details to the discussion, you can email us at therestiseducation@gmail.com

Thank you, as always, for listening and supporting this podcast.

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