The city-wide Whole School Approach (WSA) to Emotional Health and Wellbeing Strategic Board was set up in 2016, initially to steer a city-wide review of mental health support across Liverpool Schools. The report was published in March 2017 and from there the board developed an action plan to meet the recommendations from this report. Working with representatives from LLC, CCG, LLP, SIL, Merseycare, and the Liverpool CAMHS partnership, work was carried out to support schools in several aspects of MHEWB:
- Developing and delivering training for designated mental health leads in schools
- Developing a model MHEWB policy for schools (available on the CAMHS WSA webpage)
- Delivering support and training for families
- Continuing to promote positive mental health in schools
- Working with head teachers to support schools to develop a whole school approach
Liverpool’s Whole School Approach Model
Liverpool’s Whole School Approach to Mental Health model, built upon a public health WSA model, guides schools to develop and build their own WSA to mental health and emotional wellbeing. The outer rings of the model are ways in which the CAMHS partnership aim to support schools with their approach. Detailed information about this including a WSA self-assessment tool can be found on the CAMHS WSA webpage.
- Social and emotional competencies have been found to be a more significant determinant of academic attainment than IQ.
- Children experiencing poor mental health are three times more likely not to pass five GCSEs including maths and English compared to their peers, according to a study.
- Robust evidence shows that interventions taking a ‘whole school approach’ have a positive impact in relation to outcomes including: body mass index (BMI), physical activity, physical fitness, fruit and vegetable intake, tobacco use, and being bullied.
- Studies have shown that positive staff wellbeing in schools has a positive impact on whole school performance.
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