Children’s Mental Health Week: Movement for Good funding will help bring innovative mental health and wellbeing materials to life for primary schools
Specialist education insurer Ecclesiastical has partnered with children’s mental health charity, Happy Space, to help equip children with the tools they need to manage their mental health.
The charity has been awarded a £10,000 Movement for Good Award by Ecclesiastical’s parent company, Benefact Group, to deliver interactive workshops at primary schools across the country.
The funding will enable Happy Space to bring innovative mental health and wellbeing materials to life outside of the classroom with interactive ‘tent events’.
Between January 2023 to March 2024, primary schools taking part in the pilot will benefit from the interactive workshops as well as activity packs and guidebooks for students, lesson plans and teaching guides, and regular check-ins.
The mental health of pupils is a huge challenge for teachers and staff to manage and Children’s Mental Health Week1 which takes place from 6-12 February 2023 is helping to shine a spotlight on the importance of supporting children’s wellbeing.
Previous research2 by Ecclesiastical has shown an increase in pupil mental health issues year on year and schools have witnessed an increase in pupil anxiety (56%), stress (54%) and depression (46%) since the pandemic.
The research also revealed that despite the majority of schools (97%) providing mental health support for pupils, one in eight (12%) teachers reported feeling poorly equipped to support pupils with mental health issues.
Faith Kitchen, Customer Segment Director at Ecclesiastical Insurance, said: “As one of the leading insurers of schools in the UK, Ecclesiastical is passionate about supporting the education sector. Schools are under huge pressures and the mental health of pupils is a key risk for teachers and staff to manage. We’re committed to supporting schools and through our recent Movement for Good Awards we’re delighted to be supporting Happy Space in providing innovative wellbeing education for primary school students and staff.”
Tegan Creedy, Co-Founder at Happy Space, said: “Happy Space is working hard to help prevent mental health problems from developing wherever we possibly can. The way that we do that currently is by providing the resources and training schools need to provide amazing wellbeing education. The Movement for Good grant will enable Happy Space to transform the educational landscape through bringing our innovative mental health and wellbeing materials to life in a 3D world involving magical learning in a physical happy space ‘tent event’! We think learning about wellbeing should be inspiring, joyful and memorable and the Movement for Good grant allows us to execute our vision.’’
Ecclesiastical Insurance offers a range of risk management support and guidance to help schools manage the risks they face. For more information, visit the Hub for Education.
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