Baroness Massey of Darwen Pupil Referral Unit Conference Coventry 3 rd July 2015

All Party Parliamentary Group for Children Inquiry Report 2012 – 2013: What do children and young people want? All Party Groups Joint Seminar Series 2014 on children and young people’s mental health and emotional well being Online and blended education (NISAI)

Educational Provision 100,000 young people can’t access traditional schooling for a range of reasons including disability, sickness, exclusion or relocation as looked after children. Of course there are those young people who actively look to be outside society but there are more who would like to develop, become economically independent and contribute. However, the right support at the right time could make an enormous difference, helping these young people to achieve their own personal ambitions and overcome adversity. After all, students don’t wake up one morning and decide they don’t want to learn any more – there is usually a background of chaos that led to their lack of engagement that needs to be sensitively dealt with.

This report analyses the evidence gathered in response to the inquiry in order to highlight good practice and to make recommendations regarding areas where change is needed: The Department of Health, NHS England and Public Health England should take action to implement the recommendations of the Children and Young People’s Health Outcomes Forum (the Forum) in full and should report back to the Forum on progress The Government should introduce a legal obligation for public bodies to have due regard for children’s rights, as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, in making decisions affecting children and young people Schools should ensure that they offer a range of personalised, tailored, flexible support with an appropriate focus on developing children and young people’s communication skills, and should ensure that children and young people have guaranteed access to Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education A cross-Government youth strategy should be established, building on Positive for Youth, and driven by the Department for Education, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Department for Communities and Local Government, Department for Work and Pensions and Department of Health.

What helps children and young people to get the opportunities they want? Recommendations from the report on body image focused on the need for children to be enabled and empowered to feel confident during the process of growing up. This could include the development of programmes for parents which allow them to engender better self esteem and a greater understanding of body image in their children, mandatory lessons in school and better teacher training.

Speech, language and communication I CAN is a national charity supporting communication skills in all children and young people, particularly those who have difficulties such as speech and language needs. The importance of good communication for opportunities, outcomes and life chances is central to the mission of their work: 10% (1.2 million) of children and young people in the UK have quite significant speech and language communication needs – numbers are higher within disadvantaged groups, meaning that many more of these children have difficulty accessing the school curriculum. Longitudinal studies show that language skills at age 5 are the strongest predictor of successful outcomes in adulthood. Spoken language skills are key to many aspects of a child’s learning – e.g. written language skills, developing social and emotional skills, and developing relationships % of young people involved with youth offending have poor communication skills – many of these go unrecognised. 88% of unemployed young men have language difficulties.

Not only has the recession led to an increasing number of young people not in education, employment or training, but it has also led to significant cuts to the public and voluntary sector services providing support to young people. What stops children and young people from getting the opportunities they want?

What can we do to help children and young people develop good mental health and emotional well-being in the face of challenges in school?

The challenges children and young people face in school: Schools can cause distress for some children and young people. The complexity of young people’s lives is underestimated. Our young people have been shown to feel more pressure than their European counterparts. Focusing on performance challenges children’s emotional wellbeing, leaving them unable to make the most of their learning. There are children facing these challenges in every school. Mental health is not spoken about in schools and schools are not quick enough to recognise mental health problems. Young people are subject to rigorous measurements in school. There is too much focus on ‘what you should do’ which stops young people thinking about ‘what I could become’.

The role of schools in developing good mental health and emotional well-being: Education shouldn’t be purely academic. Student well-being is as important as academic achievement and must be integrated into every part of learning – everything matters. A whole school approach towards mental health and wellbeing is needed. Mental health should be embedded in all schools for all pupils. PSHE, including mental health, should be compulsory. Schools’ relationships with CAMHS needs to improve and teachers need more support. Students should be taught how to manage stress and pressure both at school and in the adult world. Transitions between phases needs careful management. Support following transition needs to stretch beyond the first year in a new school for some students.

Importance of Relationships in Schools Relationships between peers and with teachers are important. Evidence shows that pupils who are attached to teachers engage in less risky behaviour and that if young people are attached to at least one friend and one teacher their criminality deteriorates. When young people belong to a school it becomes a deeply formative experience. When young people feel they belong in a school, and perceive they are supported, they learn better.

Training for Staff in Schools Everyone has the obligation to promote the wellbeing of young people. All Initial Teacher Training courses should include training in child development. Training is needed for all school staff so that they know how best to support students, particularly as the number of students needing support has increased. Each school should have a mental health first aid worker.

Empower and Listen to Young People It is important to empower and listen to young people, so professionals understand the issues and work alongside young people to ensure that they get the services they need. A number of young people agree that they often ask for things that are ignored or not taken seriously, including requests for help with mental health issues.

Empowering Young People All professionals working with children and young people should receive specialist child and adolescent mental health training so that they have the skills and confidence to listen to children and young people and be able to assess and respond to their needs; Children and young people should be supported to develop healthy relationships with parents, carers, professionals and other children, which can provide stability and an outlet to share experiences and emotions; The coordination and integration of services should be strengthened so that they better meet the needs of children and young people, with a focus on early identification. Key interfaces are schools, CAMHS, GPs, local authority children’s services, including leaving care teams, and youth justice services. Children and young people should be given access to age-appropriate services, with a particular emphasis placed on supporting young people during their transition into adulthood and recognising that mental health issues do not stop at the age that children transition to adult services.

The Nisai Virtual Academy and The Learning Hub, Nottingham Each learner has their own personal profile based on their ability and the subjects that they want to study. This profile also opens or restricts their access to the different functions available within the Academy. In addition, the NVA also offers students access to behavioural management specialists in order to reduce learning barriers and ensure they are able to engage and participate in learning.

Other Ways In Which Online and Blended Education can help - PSHE It makes sense that PSHE is not just appropriate within mainstream education. It could actually be argued that the children using alternative education actually need this kind of help even more. This is because it helps contribute to personal development by helping children and young people to build their personal identities, confidence and self-esteem, all of which have previously been lacking. In addition, many services only offer centre-based activities, services and appointments that can feel too challenging for hard to reach groups.