New ways to improve schoolchildren’s emotional and mental health were highlighted at a recent conference hosted by Brighton & Hove City Council.
 
Twelve schools across the city are running a programme of initiatives such as training learning mentors to run groups using art and music, Yoga groups and using mental health professionals to help staff support their pupils. A core element of the project is to ease primary pupils’ often stressful transition to secondary school.
 
The council is one of 25 ‘pathfinder’ authorities taking part in the three-year TaMHS (Targeted Mental Health in Schools) programme funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
 
Councillor Vanessa Brown, Brighton & Hove City Council Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said:
“It’s important to recognise that many children experience emotional difficulties at school.  The TaMHS project has given our schools the opportunity to support pupils at a particularly difficult stage in their education and ensure that they have the best start possible to their secondary education.

“We’ve made great strides in our work within emotional health and well-being in children and as a pathfinder authority have demonstrated how the city successfully pilots and trials schemes.”
 
For more information about Brighton and Hove Council view:
www.brighton-hove.gov.uk