consultation and advice
We offer online consultation and discussion sessions with members of the LEHSS team each week. During these sessions you can talk to us about issues relating to children’s mental health (either for individual children or at a group or whole school level), and about how you can put ideas from our training into practice to support children and young people.
Our consultation sessions aim to take the learning from our training and apply it to current pupils or situations that school staff are having difficulties with. We provide a space to understand why the difficulty is happening, and think of ways to improve the situation. For example, this could be a difficulty with a child who is disruptive in school, a child with severe anxiety, or a child who is low in mood.
Consultation sessions take the form of a 30 minute one-to-one meeting with a member of the LEHSS team via Microsoft Teams. The sessions will adhere to strict confidentiality procedures. There is no limit to the number of sessions you can attend, and we will discuss during the meeting whether the option of a follow-up meeting would be helpful to you.
leadership wellbeing coaching
We will shortly be offering consultation meetings aimed at supporting the wellbeing and effectiveness of senior leaders in schools and colleges. These will use a specific coaching format to identify goals for development and ways to achieve these goals. Please check back on this website and look out for targeted communications from us for more details on this initiative. If you are interested in learning more and feel that this is for you, please feel free to email us at lehss@lancaster.ac.uk.
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training within this pathway
Supervision Skills for School and College Staff
What is this training about?
This training day will introduce you to ideas and models around individual and peer supervision that can be implemented in school and college settings. It will be useful and relevant for any setting which plans to introduce or develop a system for staff supervision to support their practice.
What will you learn and gain from this training:
- A better understanding of what supervision is.
- How to apply supervision models to practice in schools.
- To understand and practice good supervision skills.
- To think about how to set up supervision in your setting.
What people have said about this training:
“The session covered a wide scope of what supervision could be. It made me think about how helpful it could be, and I am sold on its value now!”
“It was good to talk about how supervision may mean different things according to the setting and the needs of the staff and what we can try.”
“It was really helpful discussing other people’s experiences and those of the facilitators and getting practical ideas of what to do.”
HOW DOES THIS PATHWAY MAP ONTO POLICY AND GUIDANCE?
The Coaching, Consultation and Supervision Pathway of Support maps onto key elements of the following guidance:
Ofsted Inspection Framework: The quality of teaching is a key judgement area for Ofsted. The inspection criteria refer to the importance of ensuring that all teaching staff benefit from appropriate professional development and that performance is rigorously managed. When assessing leadership and management, inspectors must consider the school’s use of performance management and the effectiveness of strategies for improving teaching. This should include the extent to which professional development is based on the identified needs of staff and the induction needs of newly qualified teachers and teachers at an early stage of their career.
Department for Education (2021) Promoting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing guidance: Staff Development, primarily promoting staff health and wellbeing, is an integral principle of the whole setting approach to emotional health and wellbeing. Staff may first need to look after their own wellbeing to be able to support students. School/college professionals are not expected to replace specialist services but it is important that all staff have the knowledge and skills through relevant training to support the emotional wellbeing and resilience of students.
NICE (2022) Social, emotional and mental wellbeing in primary and secondary education guidance: The guidance recommends settings provide continuous professional development and training to staff to support both their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of students; signposting to staff for wellbeing support; peer supervision; and protected time for supervision for those in pastoral roles (1.1.8; 1.1.9; 1.1.10; 1.1.11; 1.5.1).
What have people said about our consultation meetings?
The meeting helped me to consider different perspectives and approaches to issues that I hadn’t thought about before. It also built my confidence in the work I am already doing. I really appreciated the time and knowledge shared.
School
Testimonial
It was helpful to speak to a highly qualified professional, who could discuss the situation, strategies in place and next steps.
School
Testimonial
Great service – easy to talk to and useful next steps.
School
Testimonial
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The Lancashire Emotional Health in Schools and Colleges service is dedicated to promoting mental and emotional well-being among students and staff in educational institutions across Lancashire. Our team of experienced professionals, work collaboratively to provide comprehensive support.
By partnering with schools and colleges, we seek to create a positive ripple effect that not only benefits individuals but also contributes to a healthier, more vibrant Lancashire community.