The termly parent forum is a popular event which helps the school bring parents up to date on the latest developments.

1. Ryedale School Parent Forum
March 2019

2. The Purpose of this Forum is….
• To ensure parents understand the rationale leading to key curriculum
and organisational decisions
• To facilitate positive communication between parents and the school
in an environment based on mutual respect
• To provide parents with the opportunity to raise questions with the
leadership team of the school

3. This Forum is not….
• The place to raise questions/make comment about individual
members of staff
• The place to discuss a specific incident or dissatisfaction with the
school’s response to a specific incident relating to your child
• The place to make personal, accusatory or unprofessional remarks
relating to any of the information discussed

4. This Evening’s Presentation:
•New build/premises update
•Supporting Student Mental Health at Ryedale School

5. • What do we mean by wellbeing and mental health
• What the research says
• Areas of strength at Ryedale School
• Areas we are developing
• What else would be useful for parents/carers?
Whole school priority: Promoting positive mental
health and wellbeing amongst students and staff at
Ryedale School

6. What do we mean by wellbeing and mental health?
• Mental health includes our emotional and psychological
feelings and thoughts
• Wellbeing includes our mental and physical health and also
social integration

7. Why is it important to address this?
• One in eight 5 to 19 year olds had at least one mental disorder
(Public Health England, 2017)
• Mental health disorders are rising
• There is a well established link between a child’s emotional
health and wellbeing their cognitive development and academic
attainment.
• There is also a link between a child’s emotional health and well-
being and their mental health as an adult.

8. Factors affecting our wellbeing and mental health
Belonging Learning
Core self Coping
Basics

9. The role of schools - what the research says…
• Current research and guidance suggests that a ‘Whole
organisation approach’ is the most effective long-term way to
improve child and adolescent wellbeing and mental health.

10. • Leadership and management that supports and champions efforts to
promote emotional health and well-being
• An ethos and environment that promotes respect and values diversity
• Curriculum teaching and learning to promote resilience and support social
and emotional learning
• Enabling student voice to influence decisions
• Staff development to support their own well-being and that of students
• Identifying need and monitoring impact of interventions
• Working with parents/carers
• Targeted support and appropriate referral
What the research says

11. • Commitment to support positive mental health and wellbeing at all
levels of the school
• Staff training around mental health needs
• Supporting staff workload and wellbeing
• Ethos of the school-supportive, caring and respectful
• High expectations of all students and a calm and productive
working environment
• Lots of clubs and most students are involved in something
• Increasing cultural links and awareness and celebrating diversity
Areas of strength at Ryedale School

12. • Extensive PSHE and Citizenship curriculum
• Student voice well established in the school
• Many strong tutors and supportive tutor groups
• We know our students well-staff recognise and alert pastoral staff to
signs of declining mental heath and well-being
• Extensive early support via the pastoral team
• Peer to peer support e.g Buddies, reading club, peer tutoring
• Strong relationships with parents and carers
• Effective partnerships with outside agencies such as the Prevention
Service, the Healthy child team and CAMHS
Areas of strength at Ryedale School

13. Depression: Persistent feeling of sadness, and may also include
feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, lack of motivation and
interest, poor concentration and fatigue. Young people may self harm
or have suicidal thoughts
Support: Via GP/Pastoral support/CAMHS Crisis if immediate support

14. Anxiety: Is what we feel when we are worried, tense or afraid. It
becomes a mental health problem when the feelings of anxiety are very
strong or last for a long time or worries are out of proportion to the
situation. Anxiety can manifest in changes in your body such as
difficulty breathing, feeling dizzy or feeling sick.
Support: Pastoral support to talk about self-help strategies and then
monitoring. Bespoke interventions and support. School Nurse referral
where appropriate. CAMHS if severe.

15. Self harm: is when you hurt yourself on purpose. You usually do it
because something else feels wrong. It seems like the only way to let
those feelings out. It is a very common behaviour in young people and
affects around one in 12 people with 10% of 15-16 year olds self-
harming. It is not necessarily classed as a mental health difficulty.
Support: Medical support to clean wounds, contact parents after
speaking to student (unless there is a safeguarding risk), pastoral
support, school nurse referral.

16. The picture at Ryedale School
• Rise in mental health disorders and self harm (national picture)
• Above NYCC average in all areas of well-being in GUINY
56% (47%) said that when something goes wrong, they learn from it
67% (54%) said that if at first they don’t succeed, they usually or always
try again
79% (74%) can identify a trusted adult when worried
47% (45%) do talk to someone when they are worried

17. Areas we are developing
• Raise the profile with students - tutor time, assemblies and
displays
• Support some areas on the Resilience Framework - tutor time
• Have more open discussions about mental health difficulties
and what we can do to help ourselves and others -student
council, tutor time and assemblies

18. • Involve the students in developing our practice in school-
develop well-being ambassadors
• Develop more specific early help – pastoral staff training
• Signpost students to where they can access help-reminders
about support available in school & Compass Buzz text
service
• Work with parents/carers to recognise early signs of mental
health difficulties and signpost where they can access help
Areas we are developing

19. Advice to parents - the proposal
Provide a webpage on the school site which outlines:
• What is mental health and wellbeing
• What factors impact wellbeing
• Declining mental health-what to look for
• How to access support
• Who to contact in school if you have a concern
• Who to contact out of school if you have a concern
• Useful websites

20. Declining mental health-what to look out for
Physical signs of harm that are repeated or appear non-accidental
Significant changes in eating/sleeping
Increased isolation from friends or family
Changes in mood
Reduced academic achievement or motivation
Expressing dark thoughts
Abusing alcohol or drugs
Expressing feelings of failure or loss of hope
Secretive behaviour (including wearing long-sleeved clothing or
leggings where this is not typical)

21. Supporting well-being and mental health is
everyone’s job, but there are some specific roles
Mrs Humpleby or Miss
Wentworth
(Pastoral office)
Form Tutor
(during form or break/lunch)
Ms Wilkinson & Dr Williams
Other staff in
school
School nurseOutside agencies
Mr Merritt

22. Useful websites

23. Useful websites

24. Feedback
Parents at the forum suggested:
- Additional useful websites to add the web page
- The use of an email/text message system for students who didn’t
have the confidence to approach a member of the pastoral team
- The promotion of positive language/mind-set when discussing mental
health and wellbeing with students
- Increased opportunities for students to be listened to and to gauge
student voice
Thank you to all parents who contributed so positively to the session