Education: The importance of pupil wellbeing

Mohamed Abdallah's small office is a calm space in a quiet corridor at Dunraven School in Streatham, south London. When pupils are struggling, academically or otherwise, they can turn to Abdallah, the school's lead learning mentor.

He uses a board game called Talk-It-Out to broach difficult subjects with pupils. Playing the game gives rise to discussions about family, friends, feelings, values, dreams and aspirations.

Training mentors

Mentoring has been so effective at Dunraven that Abdallah has started training his colleagues. The aim is to equip more staff with the skills to boost pupil wellbeing.

Natoya Ivey, pastoral teaching assistant, and a former Dunraven pupil, believes mentoring builds a sense of community in the school. "As a learning mentor I support young people with their social and emotional wellbeing and with academic work as well," she explains. "I'm also part of our peer mentoring with primary schools initiative. Both are really beneficial for students who get involved. They feel like they're part of something and they have the opportunity to give back."

Ivey has witnessed shy and apprehensive pupils transform into role models for their younger peers.

But mentoring is not the only wellbeing service that Dunraven provides. The London Borough of Lambeth, in which the school is based, has embraced government attempts to boost pupil welfare in a bid to support the many disadvantaged families in the area.

From extended services to the 21st-century schools programme, the government has endeavoured to turn schools into community hubs, offering a wide range of children's services on top of education.

That means pupils at Dunraven are supported by a host of professionals, including a school nurse, a safeguarding officer, an education welfare officer, an educational psychologist, a Connexions personal adviser, a speech and language therapist, a family officer who carries out home visits and is trained in child and adolescent mental health, and pastoral teaching assistants, who offer counselling.

The school has its own referral centre to cater solely for young people who have been excluded. Weekly drop-in sessions, open to the whole school, provide information on wellbeing, sexuality, substance misuse and mental health. A pilot health drop-in for sixth formers is offering sexual health advice.

Social work students from London South Bank University also take part in 100-day supervised work placements at the school. They take on small caseloads of students with complex needs and run activities, including a girls' self-esteem group.

Achieving success

Gloria Lowe, deputy head at the school, believes promoting pupil wellbeing is central to achieving academic success.

"We have a student whose mother is a refugee and they weren't housed. Through the work the school did with the family support worker, that student and his mum were rehoused in a lovely home," she says.

"He is now definitely attaining more than he was before. He's also attending after-school clubs because the house is relatively near so his mum feels it is safe enough for him to be out after school."

That's why Lowe believes schools must work with other services to support students who have to contend with complex family set-ups.

Some families can be tough to engage with, she admits, but pupils benefit hugely when the adults in their lives take an interest in what's happening at school.

"If we weren't working with them and their families, there is no doubt that these students would have lower attendance, they wouldn't necessarily come to school on time, their relationships with their peers would suffer and their own distraction would mean that they weren't engaging with their learning," she says.

Lowe says having staff trained as lead professionals who can complete Common Assessment Framework (CAF) evaluations of pupils' needs is helping the school deliver integrated services. But she admits that having a high number of pupils with additional needs is challenging.

"We have a number of teachers who are trained lead professionals on CAF. But there is a capacity issue," she says. "For staff it's about making sure they feel confident about being lead professionals, but also that they have enough time to do that work well. There can sometimes be a conflict between the core purpose of the school, which is teaching and learning, and meeting additional needs."

Fortunately, she says, the school has good working relationships with agencies such as child and adolescent mental health services and social services, which eases pressure.

Chris Keates, general secretary of teaching union NASUWT, believes the drive to integrate services has made life easier for schools.

"We welcome the recognition from government that schools must work with and be supported by other services, such as health and social care," she says.

"In the past, schools were expected to deal with all young people's needs alone. But children can't learn if they have issues with things such as their safety, security, health or diet."

If the Tories win the general election, Keates says she fears the focus on pupil wellbeing could be lost.

Last October, shadow children's secretary Michael Gove said the Tories plan to remove Ofsted's duty to inspect schools on pupil wellbeing if they win the election, which could lead schools to prioritise their funding elsewhere. Instead, the Tories want the inspectorate to focus on evaluating teaching and learning above anything else. This may sound like an attractive proposal, says Keates, but she believes it would do little to help schools in practice.

She also expresses concern about the prospect of a reconfiguration of government departments, which could see the Conservatives create a department for education, separate from the rest of children's services. "It would be a backwards step," she says. "If schools were left alone to deal with pupil wellbeing, they would be under much more pressure."

Improving schools

Malcolm Trobe, policy director at the Association of School and College Leaders, also believes wellbeing services are vital to improving schools. "Schools recognise that they need to keep young people healthy and happy in order to get the most out of education," he says.

"Obviously the financial situation is putting pressure on services," he says. "But if schools were forced to retrench to the core functions of teaching and learning, then it's the most vulnerable children and young people who will be at risk."

The Tory press office declined to comment on its proposals.

Politics aside, Lowe says Dunraven will continue to offer pupils access to wellbeing services, because it really makes a difference. Funding is always an issue, but she believes there is a moral imperative to provide such services. Without them, children would face even more disadvantage.

"We are an inner-city, diverse, multicultural comprehensive school. We have a high number of students who get free school meals and a high number with special needs," she says. "If you don't address the wider needs of students, then they can't learn, and the whole agenda around raising attainment can't be met."

DUNRAVEN PUPILS

Christ, 12 "I am mentored by Mr Abdallah at school. When you talk to him you can get everything off your chest. It's not like someone's forcing you to say something. If you want to say something you can, if you don't want to then you don't have to - it's that simple. Sometimes he helps me with my homework too."

Sanah, 15 "In the beginning the thought of counselling really scared me. But my counsellor Miss Ivey made me feel comfortable. You can be open. It has made a big difference to me because I couldn't talk to my friends or anybody else. Before I started talking to her, I was really shy, and she has helped boost my confidence."

Robbie, 14 "I get mentored outside of school. A school family support worker also came to my house. She found a list of activities to do near where I live. Now on Tuesdays and Fridays I go to cadets and on Wednesdays I go to youth club. It has made school life better and it means I can go home and concentrate on what I'm doing."

EXTENDED HEALTH SERVICES: WIRRAL GOES BEYOND TEACHING

NHS Wirral and Wirral Council introduced health and wellbeing services into 13 out of 29 local secondary schools in November 2009, in response to demand from young people and teachers.

Students at participating schools have access to a drop-in service, which allows them to see a health professional on the school site without having to make an appointment.

All students are offered vision, height, weight and body mass index (BMI) checks.

The service also provides information and support to help young people maintain a healthy weight and deal with issues relating to growing up such as puberty, acne, smoking, drug and alcohol use and sexual behaviour.

Students are assured that they can talk to staff confidentially about any problems or concerns they have.

Positive feedback

Gordon Fair, a consultant and former head teacher who is working with the council and NHS to develop the scheme, says early feedback from pupils, parents and schools is positive.

"The service has been extremely well received. Initial indications show the health services in school teams are providing early identification on a range of potential health-related issues," he explains. "Many young people are being helped and guided on issues including smoking, alcohol use and associated risk-taking behaviours."

Wirral's extended health services team involves partners from across children's services. It is led and co-ordinated by the School Nursing Service, with support from Wirral Youth and Play Service, Wirral Drug and Alcohol Action Team and NHS Wirral sexual health nursing specialists.