A LightBulb moment for mental health in schools

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AT St Andrew’s College, teachers work with some of the most mentally unwell young people in the country. The school, which offers a full curriculum, is part of the child and adolescent mental health service for 13- to 18-year-olds based at the charity St Andrew’s Healthcare in Northampton.

It has capacity for 45 young people. The average length of stay is a year.

In 2021, head teacher and NEU Leadership member Cheryl Smith began to think about how her team could share its expertise with schools to help educators spot the early signs of mental distress among pupils, take action and, in turn, help reduce the number being admitted to the unit.

She launched LightBulb.

“We feel we have a bit of a social and moral duty to get out there and try to help young people find better coping strategies or support before things hit crisis point,” she explains. “We have some complex and poorly children coming to us, and it takes us a long time to rebuild them and get them ready to get back out into the community. We all know that if some of those children had had support earlier, and things had been picked up and signposted, potentially they wouldn’t have ended up in hospital.”

She adds that some of the young people arriving at St Andrew’s have had a very negative experience at mainstream school, where – for whatever reason –they haven’t been given the support they needed. Sometimes their genuine mental health need has been misinterpreted as a behavioural problem.

LightBulb, which won a health award earlier this year, is delivered by Paul Hanrahan and Peter Rainford, two of St Andrew’s 13 teachers. They have worked with 35 schools, a mix of primary and secondary, so far.

Schools signing up receive an introductory phone call from Paul and Peter, where they discuss the process and identify what the school wishes to get out of the programme. For example, workshops content, a wellbeing cafe, deciding upon the content of the training they would like, or talking about how LightBulb runs and what the key milestones are for the school.

The programme is based around a wheel, which is aligned with the Ofsted framework (see image, opposite), and schools are expected to collate evidence on how they are meeting the descriptors. With help from Paul and Peter, the school looks at areas with good policies and also identifies gaps.

Five hours of webinar training are provided as part of the programme, and schools can choose from a selection offered by the team. Self-harm, anxiety, eating disorders and social media are among the modules offered.

Anxiety is one of the most common issues parents raise, says Cheryl, with children worried about exams, changing schools and changing class over the summer. Health anxiety has, of course, risen because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Younger children in particular have been anxious about going to school and leaving their parents.

The self-harm training session is particularly sought after by secondary schools, which often do not know how to support those pupils who need it, says Cheryl. So, too, is the session on eating disorders. “Social media creates a lot of pressure to look a certain way and even young children now are looking to have lip fillers in this quest to be perfect,” she explains, adding that bullying on social media is common but young people don’t realise that what they are experiencing is damaging them.

LightBulb costs £1 per pupil, so a school with 800 students would pay £800. However, sponsorship from local businesses that have partnered with St Andrew’s Healthcare means those schools in the greatest need can access the programme for free – for example, where Ofsted has identi ed safeguarding concerns, or where there are high levels of bullying, or sometimes where the school has made a speci c commitment to addressing mental health and the LightBulb team feels there will be strong outcome and progress.

“It is hard as we would like to o er it to all schools free of charge, but clearly that is not going to be possible. We also o er a simple package of training only if that’s what a school would like,” says Cheryl.

At the end of the programme, when the evidence has been collated, the LightBulb team visits the school to meet the senior leadership team, the designated safeguarding lead and parents. ey look at the curriculum and produce a report highlighting good practice and any areas requiring more work. e school is awarded a LightBulb certi cate.

“We want to create an environment where children feel they can tell their teachers anything, and ask for help if they need it,” says Cheryl. To make this happen, we need to make sure schools are able to recognise potential mental health issues before they become bigger. We want to improve the culture within schools so that mental health and wellbeing is rmly on the daily agenda.”

To nd out more about the programme, contact Lightbulb@stah.org

Wellbeing cafes for pupils and parents and training for sta –how LightBulb helped one school AS the then lead for mental health and wellbeing at Hardingstone Primary in Northamptonshire, teacher Sam Longden began working with LightBulb in 2021.

The team created a video for parents on the school website about how to support children experiencing anxiety, and some continuing professional development around growth mindset and trauma-informed care for sta . “The training was tailored to the school and the children coming through our door and the issues we were seeing at the time because of the pandemic. There were children who were previously happy and positive who were changing before our eyes,” explains Sam. “Many were anxious, and their families were raising concerns.”

Signs of what mental ill-health might look like – for example, a child who is reluctant to work, a change in appearance, a drop in academic performance –were covered in the training. It also equipped sta with the skills to ask sometimes uncomfortable questions in a safe, supportive way, and to raise concerns with senior members of sta , families and the children themselves.

The team also worked with year 6 pupils on some transitions work, focusing on the skills needed for moving to secondary school, including working out of your comfort zone, teamwork and communication. Throughout the day, wellbeing cafe sessions were held, where pupils could drop in and chat with sta about transition and change. Parents were also invited. Of the overall programme of work, Sam says: “We wanted to create a culture and everyday language around mental health and wellbeing in school, and Cheryl and her team were extremely supportive.”