T&L Blog W1- Bitesize Research: Building connections at the start of the year

By Jaya Carrier

Dear WA,

Welcome back everyone! For anyone new to the WA community, Bitesize Research is a weekly WA blog article which looks to take some emerging education research and summarise the findings in an easy and digestible way. So, to get us started, I was interested to see an Edutopia article about research-backed methods that support building connections with students at the start of a school year.

Objectives: To consider evidence-informed strategies for building connections with students at the start of a school year.

Summary: 

• The article suggests 6 tips to support building connections with students at the start of the year:

• 1) Begin with a clean slate - allow students to start afresh, particularly if in previous years they may have demonstrated challenging behaviours. 

• 2) Tackle start of the year nerves directly - sharing common fears that students might face at the beginning of the school year, and how students before them have tackled these, can support students to put their fears into perspective. Allowing students to undertake some oral or written reflection using questions such as ‘What plans do you have for making friends?’ or ‘How do you plan to handle a busy timetable?’ might be helpful for this.

• 3) Check your classroom environment and resources - ensuring that displays or resources are as diverse and inclusive as possible can help students feel a sense of belonging.

• 4) Spend active time building relationships - there is a wealth of evidence to suggest that students will go the extra mile academically if they have an excellent relationship with their teacher. As such, considering how to actively build relationships at the start of the academic year is likely to be helpful in the long term for student progress.

• 5) Create Partnership Agreements - these are co-constructed, coaching-style agreements of how to ‘be’ together, and ensure that you can hold everyone accountable as the year progresses. At WA, we create these with all tutor groups - consider making one with your classes too.

• 6) Remain calm - using trauma-informed approaches to remain calm is likely to be the best strategy when students may try to test the waters. It can be helpful to actively prepare for times like this and consider different challenging scenarios and how you would respond to these.

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• What is important to me about working with students at the start of an academic year?

• What strategies might I try to support forging good relationships in academic year 2023-24?

• Which strategies appear to be clear to me? Which might I need more support to implement?

• When I create the Partnership Agreement with my tutor group, what do I want in there and how will we hold each other accountable to the agreement?

Bitesize Research: Keeping A Diary & Teacher Wellbeing

By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good final week and wishing you all a lovely summer break when it comes around! For the final bitesize research of the academic year, I was interested to see some research on teacher wellbeing and how keeping a diary can support this.

Objectives: To understand how keeping a diary might support teacher wellbeing.

Summary: 

• The researchers acknowledged that lots of systemic changes would be necessary to overhaul teacher wellbeing.

• However, in their project, the researchers worked with 450 teachers. These teachers were asked to keep a daily diary for either three, six or twelve months. 

• The diary toolkit used was not just a writing tool - it incorporated scrapbooking and audio recordings too if the participants wanted to.

• 70% of participants reported that the diary keeping made their wellbeing improve

• The researchers conclude that keeping a diary helps teachers to navigate their professional and personal lives, and supports them to keep things in perspective.

• The research suggests the following practices of diary keeping that can support with teacher wellbeing:

• 1) Define your wellbeing - write out, in your own words, what wellbeing means to you. 

• 2) Write or draw a wellbeing recipe - create a visual reminder of things that you want to do to prioritise your wellbeing

• 3) Understand what rest means to you - the authors suggest drawing a rainbow, whereby each colour represents a different activity to support you to rest. 

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• What is important for my wellbeing?

• What does rest mean to me? How does the summer break support with this?

• Is diary keeping or other reflective practices something I want to try in the new academic year?

• What support do I need for this? 

Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you!

Bitesize Research: Loneliness In Young People

By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good week! This week, I was really interested in some research emerging about loneliness and combating increasing levels of loneliness in young people released by the OECD.

Objectives: To understand some of the key trends about loneliness and how educators might combat this

Summary: 

• The study suggests that loneliness appears to be increasing in young people, and particularly young people with SEND

• The study explains that loneliness can be part of a chronic and vicious cycle, whereby a lonely individual becomes hyper-vigilant and primed to interpret all social cues as negative. This then makes other people react negatively to them, which then in turn leads to increasing feelings of disconnection

• At a whole school level, feeling of loneliness can make a sense of connection and belonging at school diminish. 

• The report then suggests four whole school strands to combat loneliness:

• 1) Supporting students to develop their social skills

• 2) Enhancing social support

• 3) Increasing opportunities for social interaction

• 4) Addressing unhealthy cognition around social understanding 

• They also suggest how at a classroom level, opportunities for collaboration and building self-esteem will also be important

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• What experiences of student loneliness have I noticed?

• What have I done about it so far?

• What support do I need about it?

• How might student-centred strategies and the IB learner profile support with combating wider trends of student loneliness?

Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you!

Tips For Being More Mindful In School

By Paul Mulvihill

I spent most of Sunday night thinking about the ‘return to school’ and although I felt excited, my mind was certainly racing at a hundred miles per hour thinking about the term ahead. So using mindfulness was certainly something I needed to focus on to be fully present and absorb all the useful information that an Inset day offers. I have included mindfulness in a few of my training sessions and I often refer to the video here, I find that the more I use mindfulness the more effective it becomes.

The article here from the charity Mind calls mindfulness a ‘skill’ and talks about needing to practice mindfulness regularly for it to be impactful. You can practice mindfulness in a number of different ways and you can incorporate these into your daily routine relatively easily. There are a whole host of activities/practices in the article here but the one that stands out to me the most is the ‘5 Senses exercise’, which simply put is noticing things you can see, hear, feel, smell and taste.

In my last post I shared the resources here, which again can be utilised in PD or even during lessons. With longer lesson times I will often get my students to stand up and stretch half way through the lesson to help energise them and refocus their attention. I have found that it gives students a short respite and also helps them become more productive directly after.

Some key thoughts to take away:

• How can I, as a teacher, become more mindful?

• How can I incorporate mindfulness into my daily routine?

• How can I support my students with practising mindfulness?

If anyone wants to talk about mindfulness or tell me about good resources or activities you are doing with students I would love to hear from you.

Bitesize Research: Classroom Strategies To Support Student Wellbeing

By Jaya Carrier

Welcome back - I hope you all had a lovely half term break and that you’re all having a good first week so far. This week I was interested to see the latest release from the Anna Freud Centre who work with children and families on improving their mental health. Here, they look to outline some simple ways that teachers can support wellbeing in classrooms.

Objectives: To understand some strategies that can be applied by teachers in classrooms to support the wellbeing of their students.

Summary: 

• Importantly, this document doesn’t ask teachers to become mental health practitioners, but rather looks to emphasise the simple things teachers can do to enhance the classroom environment and supportive relationships with students.

• The document focuses on five areas, as follows:

1. Building supportive relationships (outlining strategies including greeting students at the door, sharing some information about your own interests, making time for brief chat with individual students)

2. Creating a classroom environment where all students feel they belong (outlining strategies including using students’ preferred pronouns, and teaching about multicultural role models)

3. Promoting good mental health (outlining strategies including ‘name it to tame it’ and role modelling how you might regulate yourself)

4. Responding to stress, low mood and anxiety (outlining strategies including getting students to quantify how big problems they face are, and support students to spot the signs of anxiety)

5. Preventing bullying, cyberbullying and sexual harassment (outlining strategies including talking about bullying and its impact, and knowing the signs of bullying)

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• Which of these strategies do I already do well? How do I know?

• Which of these strategies would I like to start to implement? What support do I need?

• Which of these strategies link closely to Trauma Informed approaches?

Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you

"How Was Your Summer?": Supporting Students Returning To School

By Paul Mulvihill

“How was your Summer?” This is often a question we, as staff, ask each other on the first day back before we become completely absorbed in day-to-day activities and preparing for students' returns. Our answers would usually be in-depth and clear, which leaves us happy and confident that our colleagues are well-rested and ready to attack the new academic year. However, when we ask our students the same question we might get a very short response of ‘good’. This answer often worries me as I wonder what ‘good’ means to each individual. I like to probe students and follow up with ‘What does good mean?’, ‘What did you get up to?’ and ‘How is your family?’. This will hopefully encourage students to open up a bit more. Even if we probe and students open up about their summers we might not always get the true picture; often students will hide what they might feel is embarrassing, like not really leaving the house/flat; not having enough money to get away or not eating well for the entire 6 weeks. This is why our interactions with them on their first days back are so important. The return to WA for lots of our students may be a respite from harmful relationships, lack of comfort/food or even witnessing violence. You as teaching and support staff may be a student's only positive attachment they have in their lives; whilst this may sound sad it is also a testament to the amazing work we all complete day in day out. After a quick search online for some tips for students, staff, and parents on effective strategies in a successful return I have come up with some questions to think about in the first couple of weeks of the new academic year:

• How can you ensure interacting with you is appealing, predictable and you create a clear routine?
• How will you know what worries/thoughts students have about returning?
• How can I use trauma-informed approaches and coaching techniques to develop positive relationships with students?

The key trauma-informed approaches below are also really useful strategies to use throughout the year but especially at the start of term. Good luck! Zones of regulation Mindfulness Trauma informed thinking/language

Bitesize Research: What Impacts Student Wellbeing?

By Jaya Carrier

Welcome back everyone! I hope you’re all having an excellent first week back. We’re back with bitesize research! For those new in the WA community, this is a weekly blog article which looks to bring you a short summary of some recent educational research and expertise, and hopefully pique your interest to delve further! To start us off this academic year, I was interested in this work commissioned by the IB on student wellbeing. Objectives: To collate the existing research on wellbeing and start to look at the views of students on wellbeing and what impacts it Summary:

• The researchers in this report started with a literature review. The key conclusions from this were that:
• There is value in school time, money and resources in improving student wellbeing
• Family interactions are very impactful on the wellbeing of students
• School climate is influential on student wellbeing
• School interventions for wellbeing are impactful, and should have a sound theoretical basis

• The report creates a conceptual framework for wellbeing which has four key sections; health, people, environment and skills.
• The report concludes some recommendations for improving student wellbeing going forward:
• Schools should determine their own definition of wellbeing and this should be influenced by the socio-demographic factors that influence the school more broadly
• Subjective wellbeing should be the focus - namely, how students themselves self-report their wellbeing
• Physical activity and wellbeing should be explored by schools, as there is lots to suggests that more active students have greater wellbeing
• Teacher wellbeing is an important predictor of student wellbeing

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• How might I know about the wellbeing of my students and tutees? What opportunities do I have to learn about this?
• How have I supported student wellbeing in the past?
• What new ideas would I like to learn about or try in terms of supporting student wellbeing?
• How can I show students the value of participation in ECA as one medium of improving their wellbeing?
• How might my lessons/actions/language impact the wellbeing of students?
• What will I do to support my own wellbeing? What opportunities do I have to do this?

If you would like to discuss this further with me please get in touch! I’d be delighted to hear from you!

Thanks, Jaya

Tips For School Staff: Supporting Students' Mental Health And Wellbeing

By Ella Higgs (Education Mental Health Practitioner from the West London Mental Health Support Team at HFEH Mind)

I have worked for three years as an Education Mental Health Practitioner at Mind, but before that, I was a 1:1 special needs assistant in a school. When I worked in the school, I remember wishing there was more training, advice and attention given to how I could support the mental health of the young people I worked with. Looking back now, with the training and experiences I have had, there is so much I wish I knew and there are things I definitely would have done differently. As school staff, you might be the only adult in some students lives who notices how they are feeling. Whilst this can of course feel like a daunting responsibility, it is also the most wonderful opportunity to make a difference. What I hope to do in this blog post is to provide some practical tips for supporting young people, and to empower you to feel confident using them. This sits alongside the variety of experience and diversity of backgrounds you have as a staff team and of course the natural skill and human instinct you all have when supporting young people.

When I discuss mental health in this post, I am defining it as a state of wellbeing that we all have and I invite you to consider your interactions with all young people, not just those who might have a diagnosed mental health condition.

What to look out for:

• The first thing to say here is that a need for support can present itself differently in everyone. One of the key things I want to discuss, which I feel is often misunderstood, is how ‘challenging behaviour’ is almost always an expression of an unmet need or a way of seeking safety. Picture a child who struggles to focus in class, one who appears defensive, rude and talks back when told off, and one who is always acting the class clown to get attention. Each of these behaviours have something in common, they can be part of a ‘survival response’. But what next? If a child is breaking rules and disrupting class, there have to be consequences? How do we support their mental health at the same time? – see the second tip below.
• As well as challenging behaviour, which we would call externalising, some young people turn more inward when they are struggling with their mental health, known as internalising. Signs of this may include withdrawing, avoiding, tearfulness, irritability. Sometimes young people may not have the language to tell you how they are feeling and might say, “I’m fine, I’m just tired”. I encourage you to trust your instincts if you suspect there is more to it – no harm can come from offering a conversation or letting someone know you are looking out for them.

Top tips, techniques and strategies

1. Emotion regulation

• When in distress, or ‘survival mode’, the brain is adapted to focus on keeping safe and deprioritises other functions such as being able to think and plan rationally. We can all relate to having the feeling of not being able to think clearly when we are super stressed, anxious or angry and perhaps doing or saying something we later regret.
  
• An important first step before we try to reason with young people or discuss their feelings, is to help then ‘turn down the heat’ on their emotions. This involves taking the time to help them relax a little. You could spend some time discussing their interests or something in their comfort zone, or you could guide them to use a calming technique such as deep breathing or grounding. See the resources and signposting section below for some ideas.
• Dr Bruce Perry, a neuroscientist, has shown us that to help a child to learn, think and reflect, we need to intervene in a simple sequence known as “The Three R’s”: Regulate, Relate, Reason. See the resources section below for more information on this approach.

2. Separate the behaviour from the young person

• If we know challenging behaviour is an indicator of something deeper, try this simple but highly effective strategy: separate the behaviour from the young person. This allows you to hold all boundaries and stick to school policies, but crucially also allows you to support the young person to feel seen, heard and safe.
• This might look like: “Your behaviour was not acceptable today and there will have to be a consequence, but I really want to hear about how you are feeling and what happened for you.” – then you can follow with some of the tips about having a conversation below.
• This communicates to the young person: you are not your behaviour. You can make a mistake and I still like you and ‘see’ you as a person.
• We are not providing permission for negative behaviour; we are acknowledging the underlying cause. We can hold the key assumption that all behaviours make sense – they always indicate an unmet need or are a way of seeking safety. This allows us more curiosity and empathy to explore what this might be for each individual young person

3. Having a conversation

• When young people are really distressed, sometimes the uncomfortableness of this can drive us - the adult - to want to fix, change or offer solutions. Whilst this can be very useful, there are other times where the most helpful thing is simply to listen and validate – “oh yes, that really is hard isn’t it”, “I understand why you feel so [angry, upset, scared] about that”. This communicates to the young person that you are a safe ‘container’ for their emotions, you are not overwhelmed by them, you accept them. Over time, this kind of validation and safe holding of overwhelming feelings will allow the young person to do the same for themselves – building their tolerance for uncomfortable emotions. Sometimes you are doing more by ‘doing’ less.
• As well as validating and showing empathy, some young people may not have language for their experience, especially if emotions are avoided or not spoken about. We can support young people to give language to their experience by modelling language about emotions and making suggestions – but being sure to allow them to accept or reject them. E.g., “I think I would feel pretty anxious if that happened to me, is that how you’re feeling?”
• Phrases to avoid: “Don’t worry about that”, “You’re okay”, “everything will be fine” – these are phrases we commonly use to try to comfort others and sometimes they can be comforting. However, more often than not, what they actually communicate is “I’m not hearing or acknowledging how this actually feels for you”, this can lead people to feel confused and alone with their feelings: “my body is telling me this is terrifying, yet this person is telling me everything is fine”.

4.Looking after yourself

• Supporting distressed young people can be mentally exhausting and this can make it difficult to be nurturing and attuned all the time. The key here is to be kind to yourself and make sure you are listening to your own needs just as much as you are to those you support.
• Think of it like the instructions for using oxygen masks on an aeroplane – you must put your own mask on before helping others. Understanding and managing your own emotional responses is not selfish, it is quite the opposite. When your own mental health is cared for, you will be far more resourced to be there for others. You can also provide a good role model for what it looks like to understand and respond to your emotions in a healthy way.
• Just as I am inviting you to validate the feelings of the young people, I am inviting you to validate your own feelings too – it is ok if you sometimes feel angry/frustrated, hopeless/helpless, sad, worried, ineffective, guilty, ashamed, to name a few common and understandable reactions to supporting distressed young people.
• It is important to stay aware of your own feelings and triggers It is always good to have some ‘go to’ strategies or activities to use to support your emotional wellbeing.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post. I really hope it can be useful to you. I want to leave you with a little take-home message – never underestimate the power of showing an interest in the young people you work with and taking time to build your relationship with them. This can be as simple as remembering (or writing down to remember!) something they talked about the last time you spoke and asking them about it. Warm, consistent and respectful relationships are the foundation for any kind of mental health/wellbeing support.

Resources/References: Beacon House: https://beaconhouse.org.uk/?section=welcome-to-beacon-house ARC Framework: https://arcframework.org/what-is-arc/

Signposting and further support:

If you are concerned about your or your student’s mental health, please speak to your GP or invite their parent to.

 

For Yourself:

• IAPT Services through NHS choices: https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/adults/iapt/​  
• To find a private therapist: ​ 
• BACP: http://www.bacp.co.uk/​  
• UKCP: https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/find-a-therapist/  
• Mind Info Line: provides an information and signposting service. Open 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday (except for bank holidays) 0300 123 3393. Ask about:  mental health problems, where to get help near you, treatment options, advocacy services  
• Samaritans: Free phoneline: 116 123, alternatively you can email at jo@samaritans.org  
• YoungMinds Parent Line: detailed advice, emotional support and signposting about a child or young person up to the age of 25. Call for free on 0808 802 5544 from 9:30am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. https://youngminds.org.uk  
• Anxiety UK Infoline: Helpline 03444 775 774 is available from 9.30am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday, or you can email support@anxietyuk.org.uk  
• Helplines Partnership: For more options, visit the Helplines Partnership website for a directory of UK helplines https://helplines.org/helplines/ 
• Hub of Hope:​ The Hub of Hope is the UK’s leading mental health support database. It is provided by national mental health charity, Chasing the Stigma, and brings local, national, peer, community, charity, private and NHS mental health support and services together in one place for the first time.
• Mental Health Support Team (MHST) telephone drop-in service for staff - to support their own wellbeing. We are providing drop-in telephone sessions to support staff with their own mental health and wellbeing. This is a confidential space away from the school where staff can get a listening ear, wellbeing guidance, signposting support, and resources. Each phone call lasts for up to 20 minutes and you can request up to 6 calls – please note this is not a counselling service. To sign-up, use the following link: https://hfehmind.jotform.com/21052318690295

 

For Your Students:

 

• Anxiety UK Infoline: Helpline is available from 9.30am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday, 03444 775 774 or you can email support@anxietyuk.org.uk
• BEAT: eating disorder charity. Information on types of eating disorders, recovery information, support information including helplines & downloadable resources. www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk Helpline: 0808 801 0677, Studentline: 0808 801 0811, Youthline: 0808 801 0711  
• CAMHS: is the name for the NHS services that assess and treat young people with emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties. Most local CAMHS teams have a website where you can look up how to get access to their service.  
• Hope Again: support for children and young people experiencing grief and bereavement. Helpline. www.hopeagain.org.uk, 0808 808 1677 
• Kooth: free online counselling support for under 25s. www.kooth.com or download the Kooth app  
• Mind: A-Z information for mental health, including treatment options, self-care, information for family & friends, & useful contacts www.mind.org.uk 
• The Mix: information & support about mental health for under 25s. Professional and young person blogs and advice over a wide range of topics. Helpline, crisis messenger, 121 chat, email. www.themix.org.uk, 0808 808 4994  
• NSPCC: charity fighting to end child abuse. Information, resources and further support, stories. www.nspcc.org.uk, 0808 800 5000  
• No Panic: offers advice, support, recovery programs and help for people living with phobias, OCD and any other anxiety-based disorders. https://nopanic.org.uk, 0844 967 4848   
• Papyrus: charity to prevent and help young people thinking about suicide. Information & support, hopeline for under 35s. www.papyrus-uk.org/hopelineuk, 0800 068 4141  
• Samaritans: 24/7, free helpline for anyone. 116 123, www.samaritans.org.uk  
• YoungMinds: mental health charity for children and young people. Information and resources for young people & parents, including parents’ helpline and young people crisis messenger and helpline. https://youngminds.org.uk, Text the YoungMinds Crisis Messenger for free 24/7 support across the UK if you are experiencing a mental health crisis. If you need urgent help text YM to 85258.  

Bitesize Research: The Impact Of School On Adolescent Mental Health

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone’s had a great week so far! This week, I was really interested in a study that was conducted by UCL into teenage mental health, which looked at the possible impact that school itself plays on poor mental health (particularly in girls) during adolescence. It used a large amount of anonymised longitudinal data taken from mental health clinics, GPs and CAMHS Objectives: To examine data from students in secondary schools to look at some of possible causes of poor mental health in adolescence. Summary:

• The findings show that mental health issues are rare in primary-aged students, but then they increase rapidly in secondary school, wherein they become twice as common for girls compared with boys.
• For boys, the data suggests that only towards YR11 do mental health issues increase, whereas for girls it appears that this occurs from YR8 onwards.
• The authors suggest that this may be due to biological or hormonal changes in girls, as well as boys being less likely to disclose or seek help for mental health issues.
• Whilst recent educational policy has suggested that secondary schooling or specific year group dynamics play a part in this decline in mental health, this study raises some important questions about this
• The study contends that age rather than year group appears to be a stronger determinant of mental health issues. By comparing summer-born students and autumn-born students in consecutive years (who are therefore very close in age but in different year groups) they noticed that it was age rather than year group that influenced mental health decline more than say ‘being in YR11’.

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• What is my awareness of mental health in our students? What are some of the signs of declining mental health?
• How does this study shape your thinking related to students you teach, or students in your tutor group?

If you would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.

Bitesize Research: Ongoing Challenges Schools Face Following The Covid-19 Pandemic

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone has had a great week so far. This week, I was interested in the NFER study from September 2021 that looks at some of the ongoing issues from the lockdowns and the pandemic for school settings. This study is based on in-depth interviews with 50 senior leaders from mainstream primary and secondary schools across the UK.

Objectives: To provide ongoing insights into the challenges of recovery, wellbeing and support for schools following the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Summary:  

The key findings were:

• Curriculum modification was a typical response to the pandemic. This took different models including; narrow (prioritising literacy and numeracy over other subjects); focused (prioritising core content within subjects); blended (supporting literacy and numeracy through other subjects); and continuous (covering content over a longer period of time).
• Pupil mental health and wellbeing is an immediate and urgent concern for school leaders. School leaders in this study reported that in particular there was an alarming increase in self-harm. 
• Pupils were less prepared emotionally and academically for transition between YR6 and YR7
• School leaders identified requiring robustly funded support for pupil wellbeing as the most urgent support needed from government and policy. 

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

 

• How have I adapted the curriculum? If I’ve adapted the curriculum, which model of curriculum recovery have I followed?
• How can I support pupil mental health and wellbeing? How might trauma-informed approaches support this further?
• How is the transition going for pupils in my YR7 classes or tutors? What might I need to be mindful of with respect to their ongoing transition from YR6-7? 

If you would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.

Thanks, Jaya