It’s Mental Health Awareness Week (8th-12th May), so we caught up with Alex Mitchell, Headteacher at Holmwood House, Essex to discuss the school’s Emotional Intelligence programme
Holmwood House in Chelmsford, Essex recently launched an Emotional Intelligence programme, which has been introduced as part of the curriculum. The robust pastoral system is geared towards educating staff to spot early warning signs “which indicate when a pupil is experiencing mental health or emotional wellbeing issues.”
The school has also used a counsellor for two years and recently employed two others, as well as instigating training and policies to reflect the importance of emotional wellbeing.
Headteacher, Alex Mitchell, says: “These warning signs should always be taken seriously. At our school, we have consistently been very open to the idea of children?s mental health and emotional wellbeing being of high importance.” Above, pupils at Holmwood House school
While the school’s Headteacher is keen to point out that everything the school does reflects the school?s motto ? Laetatus sum (I am happy) ? he is realistic about the pressures on today?s children.
?Society throws many more things at young children these days. They are bombarded by adverts and images of perfect people; happy and successful. Life isn?t always like that.?
Mitchell cites social media as one of the biggest causes of anxiety, saying that ?the pressure on girls to be beautiful has ...