Twelve Nottinghamshire schools achieve Trust’s Mentally Healthy School Award status
The Trust's Mental Health Support Teams' (MHST) have awarded 12 schools across Nottinghamshire with their Mentally Healthy School Award, an initiative which inspires schools to sign up to work with MHSTs and nurture a positive culture of mental wellbeing within education.
Of the 12 schools awarded to date, one school has achieved Bronze, four schools have achieved Bronze and Silver and seven schools have achieved Bronze, Silver and Gold.
The scheme encourages MHST schools to evidence how they embed mental health support into everyday practice and school life. Through a clear set of criteria and a robust review process, schools can be awarded Bronze, Silver or Gold status as a 'Mentally Healthy School'.
The criteria for the awards are:
Bronze Award - to encourage schools to review the initiatives in place and the work being carried out to improve the health, wellbeing and resilience of the school community.
Silver Award - to plan to improve the health, wellbeing, and resilience of their children and young people, and to have achieved the Bronze Award before commencing the Silver Award accreditation.
Gold Award - the Gold award framework is used to evidence the work schools undertake to implement their plans including how a school has implemented the actions agreed through the silver award planning stage, to what extent outcomes have been achieved and to review how well the actions have been embedded within the school. Evidence of collaborative working with parents/carers and established links with support services.
Micaela Shickell, Operational Team Leader for Bassetlaw MHST, said "The Mentally Healthy School Award recognises and champions schools that are truly prioritising the emotional wellbeing of their whole school community. This is about more than individual interventions - it's about creating an environment where mental health is openly discussed, understood and supported across pupils, families and education staff.
"Through working in partnership with our Mental Health Support Teams, schools are embedding approaches that build resilience, empower young people and equip staff and parents with the confidence and tools to support emotional wellbeing. We are incredibly proud of the 12 schools who have demonstrated such commitment to making mental health a visible and valued part of everyday school life."
One Nottinghamshire school in Rushcliffe who has achieved the Gold standard shared their inspiring journey of 'Getting to Gold' at a recent MHST stakeholder event. Their powerful showcase was fully aligned with the MHST's goals in education and demonstrated how strong collaboration between health and schools can improve outcomes for children across Nottinghamshire. Their recommendations for other schools to achieve the same gold standard included:
- Being visible and approachable
- Embedding mental health throughout the curriculum and whole school culture
- Offering safe spaces and drop ins
- Sharing resources and signposting widely
- To celebrate wellbeing and positive mental health, not just academic success.
Joseph Sullivan, Mental Health Care Group Director, said: We are incredibly proud that 12 schools in Nottinghamshire have achieved a Mentally Healthy School Award for placing mental health at the heart of school life alongside academic achievements. Achieving Bronze, Silver or Gold status reflects a school's real commitment to creating supportive environments where children and young people feel safe and can thrive.
MHSTs are an early intervention mental health and wellbeing service in schools aimed at providing support for children, young people and families around low-level emotional wellbeing needs, such as anxiety, low mood, managing emotions, and sleep.
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