Research School Network: Social and Emotional Health: A Whole School Response Phil Stock, Director, explains how SEMH principles can help develop a caring and supportive culture and reduce pupil absence.

We know that pupil absence is rising and has become a national concern. The weekly attendance data is on a worrying downward trend and we see the impact of these high levels of pupil absence every day with empty desks in our classrooms.

Coinciding with rising absence rates is an increase in referrals to children and young people’s mental health services. Unsurprisingly, children from areas of higher deprivation are disproportionately represented¹, where the daily stresses of living in poverty put them at greater risk of experiencing mental health conditions.

This isn’t a problem confined to this country alone. Estimates from the World Health Organisation² suggest that up to 1 in 8 people around the world are living with a mental health condition. The challenge that we are facing is therefore global in scale.

The underlying factors vary. For some the challenge may be rooted in poverty and housing, the effects of the pandemic and issues associated with the rise of technology and social media, whereas for others it might stem from displacement through war, conflict and national disaster.

All of these issues are far too big and complex for the sector to tackle on its own, let alone for individual schools to respond to in any meaningful way.

Realistically, all we can do is address some of the symptoms and do our bit within a multi-disciplinary system-wide response.

The role of schools in supporting mental health

So what can individual schools do? What might a co-ordinated whole-school approach to tackling the effects of mental health look like in practice?

A good starting point can be found in the five EEF Guidance Reports known collectively as Learning Behaviours (Improving Behaviour, Social and Emotional Learning (SAEL), Metacognition, SEND and Working with Parents).

Recommendations from across these reports highlight the importance of creating caring and supportive cultures, where pupils’ needs are widely known:

• Offer more sustained and intensive support where needed (Parents)
• Use classroom strategies to support good classroom behaviour (Behaviour)
• Create a positive and supportive environment for all pupils without exception (SEND)
• Know and understand your pupils and their influences (Behaviour)
• Build an ongoing, holistic understanding of your pupils and their needs (SEND)
• Reinforce SEL skills through whole-school ethos and activities (SEL)
• Teach learning behaviours alongside managing behaviour (Behaviour)

These findings chime with recommendations made across other sectors. One of the World Health Organisation’s Three Transformative Paths towards better mental health, for instance, focuses on the importance of reshaping the physical and social environment:

We must reshape environments that influence mental health in ways that reduce risks and strengthen protective factors so that everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive and reach the highest attainable level of mental health and well-being.

The benefits of a whole school response

Like all schools, we think Greenshaw High School is a happy, safe and welcoming school. But with nearly 2,000 pupils, and in this current post-covid world, it is highly likely some pupils must feel they don’t belong. We need to acknowledge this likelihood and better understand the reasons why.

This year we have committed to ensuring that in every interaction we have with pupils we are looking for ways to increase pupils’ sense of belonging. We want to make sure there is always someone who notices a pupil when they’re not there, and who welcomes them when they are.

It is part of our whole school response to rising absence rates and increased issues relating to mental health. Drawing on the expertise of our SEND colleagues, we have identified some core SEMH principles that can guide these interactions in the classroom and around the school.

Our Principles of Great Teaching

There are nine principles being mobilised through our school coaching model. Unlike sessions that focus on finessing powerful routines, there is no practice in SEMH coaching – rather a working through of what these principles might look like in typical scenarios.

Similar to our approach to disadvantage – where deliberate actions aimed at supporting our most vulnerable benefit all – our SEMH strategy is designed to address specific social and emotional needs that will ultimately create an environment in which everyone thrives.

Turning our ​‘principles’ into ​‘connections’

Some principles take more time to understand and work through than others. Connect before Correct, for example, sounds like a pretty straightforward idea that makes intuitive sense, but it can be hard to always enact in a tiring five-period day.

And yes it’s the little things we say and do, often without thinking, that can make the biggest difference to how pupils feel about school.

Addressing pupil lateness privately rather than publicly, redirecting using gesture rather than voice, and adopting warmth and kindness over sarcasm are all more likely to help create more positive, inclusive environments.

Even things like presenting a returning pupil with a missed assessment, which might seem perfectly innocent, can be the kind of destructive action that undermines efforts made to get a pupil back in. It’s about reflecting on these micro-interactions and being more considered.

This isn’t about lowering expectations: we still want teachers to have high standards for behaviour and conduct. Instead, it’s about ensuring we always aim to treat pupils with dignity and respect, even when we’re addressing lateness, uniform slips or off task behaviour.

Connection is part of what makes us human, so the more opportunities we take to cultivate relationships and connections for our pupils, the more likely they will feel that school is a place for them and that there is someone who is looking out for them.

It’s not going to address high absence overnight, but it is a necessary first step in our response.