Supporting mental health and wellbeing at a whole-school level: listening to and acting upon children's views

This project was conducted as a response to a primary school identifying a need to listen to and act upon children's views in relation to social and emotional aspects of learning. The consideration of children's views links to recent national emphasis on the importance of pupil voice. Mental health and wellbeing are also highlighted as a recent focus within schools and children's services. This small-scale project explored the social and emotional experiences of children within one primary school. Eighteen children from Reception Year to Year 6 participated in four focus groups. Focus group schedules (one for Foundation/Key Stage 1 and one for Key Stage 2) were used to facilitate discussion by asking children to consider their views in relation to environmental quality, self-esteem, emotional processing, self-management skills and social participation. They were asked to explore features of their school that promoted and demoted mental health and wellbeing. These views were then shared with the whole staff group. This project enabled school staff to discuss the views of children who had participated and develop an action plan to change aspects of school life in response to them.