As part of The Education Alliance (TEAL), we are extremely fortunate to benefit from the TEAL Be Well programme. This programme provides emotional and wellbeing support for students, parents/carers and staff in addition to what schools are normally able to offer.
The TEAL Be Well Programme is a unique resource commissioned by The Education Alliance to increase mental health provision for children, staff and parents/carers across the schools in our Trust, including Driffield School and Sixth Form. The programme is made possible through close partnerships with several organisations and is made possible with the support of Pagabo.
At Driffield School and Sixth Form, the Be Well Programme consists of two elements:
- Hull and East Yorkshire (HEY) Mind – The Whole School Approach for all children, parents/carers and staff
- SMASH – (Social Mediation and Self Help)
Hull and East Yorkshire (HEY) Mind – Whole School Approach
Sally Mulligan from HEY Mind is based in Driffield School for two days per week (Monday and Tuesday).
Our school community is supported through a range of activities, including:
- High quality training and support
- A commitment to ensuring we have trained Youth Mental Health First Aiders at a ratio of 50:1 within our school. These members of staff wear green lanyards, so they are easily identifiable for students
- Access to a listening service for students, parents/carers and staff as a drop-in service, in person or virtually
- An age appropriate workshop for all students (see below)
- A range of workshops for parents
- Access to a high quality training programme for young people who wish to become Wellbeing Ambassadors
- Intensive student support through the ‘Big Umbrella’ programme
Parents/carers are able to seek support from Mind directly by either speaking to Sally during parent’s evenings or contacting her directly on SMulligan@heymind.org.uk She can provide a listening ear or signposting service depending on individual need. Last academic year, 134 parents benefited from Sally’s support.
During the academic year 2021-22, 356 students were supported through the activities offered by Mind. This has increased significantly with all students in Y7 to Y11 being offered access to an age appropriate workshop:
Year 7 Transition and self-care
Year 8 Ways to wellbeing
Year 9 Self-esteem and confidence
Year 10 Resilience and adult life
Year 11 Managing exam stress
Social Mediation and Self-Help (SMASH)
The SMASH programme supports young people that have emotional and mental health difficulties and is an evidence based intervention that offers 1:1 support, therapeutic group work and family outreach. Last academic year, 55 students benefited from SMASH support by either attending group intervention (KS3) or individual sessions (usually KS4). At Driffield School and Sixth Form we are supported by two SMASH practitioners who, between them, provide cover for the full week.
Core areas of the SMASH programme are:
Self Esteem
Empathy
Relationships
Sense of belonging
Trust
Responsibility
Choices
Risk and Safety
Links to our curriculum
The unique provision possible from the Be Well programme compliments the work that we already do through our APEX curriculum and in-school pastoral interventions. However, without the Be Well support it is very likely that students at Driffield School and Sixth Form would have had to wait a considerable time for the specialist support they require from external services.
If you would like to find out more about the interventions available in school or the Be Well programme specifically, please contact your child’s Head of Year in the first instance