Skip to content ↓

Mental Health & Wellbeing

 

QE School is committed to improving children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. While mental health issues are relatively common, with around 10% of 5 to 16-year-old pupils experiencing them, children and young people do not always get the help that they need as quickly as they should. Issues such as anxiety, low mood, depression, conduct and eating disorders can impact significantly on their happiness and future life chances. Schools play a crucial role, working alongside health and community and voluntary services, in helping to support good mental health and in preventing and identifying mental health issues in children and young people. 

QE school attaches considerable importance to ensuring pupils’ wellbeing, developing character and resilience and supporting pupils with problems. We play a valuable role in early intervention and support for mental health issues, in particular through our pastoral system and school based counselling service. 

Counselling is an intervention that children or young people can voluntarily enter into if they want to explore, understand and overcome issues in their lives which may be causing them difficulty, distress and/or confusion. A counselling relationship has identified boundaries and an explicit contract agreed between the young person, counsellor and, where appropriate, parent or carer. The aims of counselling are to assist the child or young person to achieve a greater understanding of themselves and their relationship to their world, to create a greater awareness and utilisation of their personal resources, to build their resilience, and to support their ability to address problems and pursue meaningful goals.