CYP Now - Make schools part of wider support system

You can understand if school leaders feel a little put upon. Not content with being tasked to prepare the next generation for the challenges of a rapidly changing world, policymakers are increasingly turning to schools to solve some of society's wider problems.

Derren Hayes: "Is it right to expect educators to solve the problems caused by toxic social media, junk food or poverty of opportunity?"

Schools have been tasked with delivering free meals for disadvantaged pupils for many years, but amid the cost-of-living crisis the Mayor of London plans to extend the offer to all primary schoolchildren from September. Several other school-focused initiatives have emerged recently, all of which have merit.

Faced with a shortage of community-based early intervention services for young people with emerging mental health problems, the government has embarked on developing mental health support teams in groups of schools – and appointing school mental health leads – to identify concerns earlier and provide support to reduce the need for specialist help (special report, p27).

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