A MERSEYSIDE specialist school has taken its next step to becoming a mental health champions learning environment.
Liverpool Progressive School is part of Keys and has just been awarded a plaque as an official partner school for “Healthy Heads”.
Mental health and well-being have long been important subjects for students at the school. When they had the opportunity to meet their local MP virtually during COVID-19 for example, their questions to him focused on what the Government was doing to support mental well-being of young people.
Healthy Heads is an organisation which runs programmes to support schools in PHSE and Increasing awareness and improving mental health in children through focused PSHE lessons.
As part of their journey, students at Liverpool Progressive School have enjoyed visits from Healthy Heads over the past year. The sessions have focused on positivity, resilience, recognising emotions and mindfulness and have been adapted and flexed to meet the needs of the pupils who have a range of different social, emotional and mental health difficulties and special educational needs. Some of the children have communication difficulties and the lessons have been adapted to meet their needs also.
Some of the sessions have incorporated physical activity and its effect on mental health.
A teacher at the school, Sarah Jones, has led on the project. She said: “The Healthy Heads programme has been a key step on our journey to becoming a mental health champion school and the team have been fantastic in flexing and adapting the programme to meet the sensory and other needs of our children, delivering the messages in a way which is play-based or sensory.
“The children have really enjoyed the sessions and really engaged with them. Mental health and well-being are subjects they take very seriously.
“The children’s understanding of mental health and recognition of emotions has really improved and we’re very proud to be partners with Healthy Heads.”
