New school health centre to protect physical and mental wellbeing

A new health and wellbeing centre has been set up at a leading school to protect the physical and mental welfare of students.

A six month refurbishment of accommodation at Barnard Castle School has resulted in a custom-built health hub, staffed by sister Suzanne Newbrook, school counsellor Emma Hickmans and nurse Beth Cummins.

The centre, featuring treatment, recovery and counselling rooms, is close to senior and prep schools, boarding houses and the playing fields. It is being resourced throughout the week and on Saturdays for pupils and visitors attending fixtures.

Deputy head (pastoral) Caroline Riley said “This wellbeing hub is designed to cater for the physical, emotional and psychological needs of pupils. It is at the heart of the school yet also sufficiently far away to ensure privacy. Pupils’ anxieties often present themselves physically and the centre is there to offer the support they need.”

The facility is the latest boost to pastoral care at Barnard Castle School, which strives to maintain its students’ physical and mental health and wellbeing, ensuring they all feel happy, safe, secure, fulfilled and rewarded in their learning.

Senior pastoral staff introduced STEER, a ground-breaking toolkit, to measure, track and improve the self-regulation of year 9-13 students and equip teachers to give personalised support to impact on their wellbeing. The school has been awarded ‘champion’ status for its introduction and use.

Interim assistant director of pastoral care Olivia Isaac said: “This pastoral tool is proving to be very effective in helping students. Regular assessments help us determine anything in the future that might cause them to steer off track. It is part of a raft of measures to ensure no one slips through the net.”

The system examines ‘self-disclosure’, whether pupils are prepared to ask for help or say they are fine when they are not. It also tackles high self-disclosure which can lead to students over-sharing, often online, which can make them vulnerable.

It considers ‘trust of self’, whereby students can often overcompensate with self-confidence to hide possible issues or be too trusting of their own views in which case they ignore the ideas of others.

STEER allows staff to address students’ social naivety and ‘trust of others’ to obtain the right balance and considers issues around ‘seeking change’, to help those who hate change and others desperate to alter their lives. The system can also help parents with family signposting.

Measures can be introduced at an individual level, or by cohort for certain peer groups, houses or years.

“The tools themselves are extremely discreet and often students don’t realise what we are doing as we steer conversations a certain way,” said Mrs Isaac.

“Sometimes students are holding the wheel too tightly and become exhausted and the system flags up pupils so we can assess them. Some similar systems rely on pupils telling you how they feel but STEER allows us to keep an eye on the ones who aren’t ok but don’t voice their concerns.”