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“Improving Mental Health Is Always A Priority At Our School”

Head of Tor Bridge High School, Ruth Golding, explains why they do not want any ‘invisible’ children, and how they try to meet all students’ needs

Ruth Golding
by Ruth Golding
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The mission statement of Tor Bridge High – an academy in Plymouth with 1250 students – is ‘Stronger together, building better futures’, and this is reflected in two non-negotiables: students always come first in any decisions, and we want everyone to be happy.

Improving everyone’s mental health has always been at the heart of our practice.

Tor Bridge High was opened in 2010 as a Building School’s for the Future Pathfinder. The design of four small schools within a secondary academy aimed to replicate the size and familiarity of a primary setting. Each ‘small school’ has its own leadership team led by a head of school. Each tutor group has two tutors. We do not want any ‘invisible’ children; we want to meet all students’ needs.

Learning to manage emotions

Deputy heads of school are trained in Emotional Logic, a tool used to support young people to understand their emotional responses. Students work through a set of cards with emotions on them and they are asked to arrange them in the order they feel each affects them. 99% of the time ‘anger’ will be their first card.

It’s then possible to explore this with young people; to start to discuss and explain each emotion and why it is good – for example, anger means adrenaline is released in our body, which is useful because it keeps us alert when we could be harmed. Going through these exercises helps students to recognise and accept that the rollercoaster of emotions are normal and that they can identify them and get them under control.

We believe that the biggest barriers to learning are not necessarily a special education need – for example, we work on the principle that it is the underlying anxiety about their problem that leads to classroom difficulties and we work on this.

Pastoral leaders spend time unpicking students’ anxieties; teachers are highly responsive to the information given. Students can access our Tamar Learning Centre for some mental health ‘first aid’. We also create ‘Learning Passports’ where students explain their needs in their own voices. When required they also carry Reasonable Adjustments Photo Cards to explain how their anxiety affects them.

Wellbeing is critical – and not just for students. Last year a new member of the SLT launched the Tor Bridge High Appreciation Society. Each term a different year group of students write cards to staff showing gratitude and appreciation for a difference they have made in their lives. Colleagues report going home with a warm ‘fuzzy’ feelings when they see these cards in their pigeonholes!

Making time to talk

The Mental Health Cafe is another new initiative and it serves two purposes. First, we aim to reduce the stigma around mental health by getting people talking about it. Secondly, it gives support to anyone who has a mental health condition or is living with someone who has one. Students and staff can write their thoughts, feelings, ideas, and poems on whiteboard tablecloths. Each session has a different focus about raising awareness or being a champion for positive mental health. We also encourage staff to speak openly about their mental health experiences through tutorials or assemblies; there is always time to talk about mental health.

We live in tough times in education, so much is expected of both students and staff in schools. The Children’s Society Good Childhood Report 2015 shows that children in England rank 14 out of 15 countries for happiness, so there is work to do.

However, at Tor Bridge High we always have and always will continue to do whatever it takes to improve the life chances of young people – and we firmly believe that paramount to this is the mental health of our whole community.


5 ways to promote positive mental health in a school

  • Make the mental health of your students and colleagues central to your school improvement planning. Base all your interactions on loving kindness. Think carefully about the words you use to others – you have the power to make or break someone’s day and contribute to a change in their mental health.
  • Make positive wellbeing a priority for your staff and students. Develop a culture of showing appreciation for each other. Get students involved in random acts of kindness or paying it forward opportunities.
  • Encourage open discussion about mental health and provide spaces for these discussions to develop further so that you are all part of the solution in destigmatising the mental health conditions that affect one in four of us.
  • Know your students well and teach them to recognise and talk about their emotion, because when they can do this they can learn more effectively.
  • Be strong together, share your ideas and practice. This enables you to take care of your own mental health. If your mental health is challenged you cannot show a passion for teaching, ignite the flame of learning or inspire others to be the best that they can be.

  • Ruth Golding is head of school and mental health lead at Tor Bridge High.

    Tor Bridge High was crowned Secondary School of the Year at the 2017 Shine a Light Awards. The awards seek to recognise the incredible contributions of teams, settings and individuals across England who support children and young people’s speech, language and communication.

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