Education Today Education Today Magazine
A Northampton Principal has invested in mental health training for over 40 teaching staff in an attempt to build an ‘army of fully trained coaches’ to support the entire school community.
Since joining The Duston School as Principal in 2017, Sam Strickland has placed a huge emphasis on mental health and well-being, bringing in a team of councillors in his first few months and spearheading plans to create a positive impact centre on site.
Sam said, “I’ve worked in education for many years and witnessed first-hand the lack of external mental health support available for those most at risk, including terrible waiting lists and a lack of referral pathways.
“This isn’t just a local issue though, national statistics show that demand for support is higher than ever and, with half of all mental health disorders starting before the age of 14, I believe schools have a huge role to play.
“Bringing in our own councillors was just the start of the process to develop our own service, the next phase was to build our Positive
Impact Centre – a separate facility on site and a dedicated base for our councillors, mental health nurses and HLTA’s trained in SEAL behaviours. This latest training provides a huge part of our ongoing plans to embed mental health and well-being support into our whole-school approach.”
There are 40 members of staff at The Duston School undertaking an 8-module training programme which is being Delivered by the Educator’s Coaching Academy (ECA), founded by former Northamptonshire teacher and international coach and speaker Sam Moinet.
The course aims to equip staff with the tools and confidence to improve student mental health, whilst also supporting their own wellbeing in the process.
Sam Moinet said, “Having so many teachers undertaking this programme is going to make a massive difference to the lives of so many and has the power to revolutionise the culture at The Duston School.
“As part of a series of planned workshops and training, the ECA team will be teaching staff valuable skills and techniques which are based on ground-breaking methods. This programme has been proven to not only boost student mental health, but to support the well-being and happiness of school leaders and educators too. I wish there were more forward-thinking Principals like Sam Strickland.”
Feedback from staff undertaking the training so far has been really positive.
Mark Bidwell, Geography Teacher at The Duston School said, “I’m really excited that so many staff are going to be equipped with the skills to really actively listen to students and to give them space but also the forum to be able to discover results and answers for themselves.”
Sam Strickland hopes the training will result in increased confidence and a change in mindset in how their teachers work with students as well as supporting both their own and their colleagues’ wellbeing in the process.
With ambitious plans to build an army of fully trained coaches to provide coverage across the entire school community, Sam is already looking for the next wave of volunteers.
For more information on Educators Coaching Academy visit: www.ecatraining.com
For more information on The Duston School visit: www.thedustonschool.org