Longendale High School has been given the AcSEED award for adopting best practices when supporting the emotional wellbeing and mental health of young people.
The award gives recognition of the work of staff offering students cognitive behavioural therapy, sessions on boosting self-esteem, pastoral support and other wide-ranging help. Some staff have also gone on to take a Level 2 Mental Health with Teenagers course.
Longendale is the first school in the region to be accredited with the award where supported pupils have been found to grow in confidence and self-esteem to achieve at school. Attendance has also improved. This approach enables staff to support the students quickly, giving pupils help earlier into any issues they may be facing.
The mental health work will be taking place beyond this school year and now forms part of the school behaviour.
Teachers worked closely with Tameside & Glossop Mind and all staff received training from the charity to develop a whole school approach to mental health. Along with this, the school also worked in partnership with Healthy Young Minds which provided them with clinical supervision.
There is also special mental health course available to support parents of teenagers.
AcSEED is a national charity founded by young people which promotes the need for high quality mental wellbeing in schools and colleges.
It provides recognition through the AcSEED Award to the organisations that demonstrate their commitment to this support.
The teenagers who founded the award all have experience of wellbeing challenges during their time at school.
Charlotte Gatherer, founder of the AcSEED Award, said: “The AcSEED assessment team were impressed by the comprehensive wellbeing support provided by Longdendale High School, and by the wide range of wellbeing information, education and support provided to staff, students and families. Longdendale has a strong focus on continuous improvement of wellbeing provisions.”
Councillor Ged Cooney, Tameside Council Executive Member for Health, said: “We’re really proud of the whole school approach Longendale High has taken towards mental health. Pupils here have access to high quality support thanks to the training and supervision provided by TOG Mind and Healthy Young Minds.
“It’s great to see support is available to parents and staff as well as their pupils. Hopefully this is the first of many schools in Tameside to receive this accreditation.”
For more information on the award please visit www.acseed.org.
