Bradford Mental Health Senior Leads Training; Grant Funded and Approved by the DfE

Overview of Senior Mental Health Lead Training - The Bradford Course - Code SMHL003 - NEW DATES FOR 2002-23 BELOW

"This training was both informative and interesting, I usually find training sessions to be uninteresting and struggle to maintain my concentration on its content! This training held my attention throughout! Well done, what an achievement!"       Kirsty Ratcliffe - Head Teacher - Park PRU (Bradford) 

"I have found this course to be extremely useful and feel that I am ready to implement a whole school strategy to promote the wellbeing and mental health of the children and staff. There was a good mix of theory and of practical advice. The trainer has been extremely helpful as have the conversations with other people in the course about approaches and strategies. I appreciated how the trainer adjusted her approach in order to support colleagues with the workload following the feedback that she had requested"   

Richard O'Sullivan, Byron Primary School, SMH Lead & Head Teacher

"I found this course very information and inspiring. The delivery of it was excellent. Kay ensured it was engaging through a mixture of listening to her, guest speakers, you tube videos and break out rooms. I valued the time to discuss things with peers and share good practice. The support from the EP to implement it across my school has also been incredibly grateful. I personally think every Head Teacher should be made to do this training so they fully understand it"  Sadie Cordingley, Deputy Head Teacher, SMH Lead

FEEDBACK FROM DELEGATES REGARDING THIS COURSE HAS BEEN EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD, WITH SCHOOLS REPORTING THAT THEY HAVE PARTICULARLY BENEFITTED FROM EACH SECTION OF THE COURSE BEING SPREAD OVER A TERM, GIVING TIME FOR REFLECTION & PROCESSING OF WHOLE SCHOOL CHANGE AT A MANAGEABLE PACE

There are four 'suites' of courses currently available and the booking links are here:

STARTING MARCH 2022 https://skills4bradford.co.uk/T147839   

AUTUMN TERM 2022   https://skills4bradford.co.uk/Event/164091

SPRING TERM 2023  https://skills4bradford.co.uk/Event/164092

SUMMER TERM 2023   https://skills4bradford.co.uk/Event/164094

My name is Dr Kay Tasker-Smith and I am the Specialist Senior Educational Psychologist leading on the Bradford Mental Health Leads Training. In this Bradford based training, each suite of seven courses will be delivered to up to 30 delegates, to strengthen your school or college’s offer on mental health and wellbeing, as well as providing a valuable space for peer support and reflection.  This introductory course will be delivered in a supportive and practical way so that delegates feel at ease and can build up their skills and knowledge one step at a time. The course has a strong emphasis on psychological theories and models and the practical aspects of managing the process of change, alongside providing information on evidence based whole school approaches that can be used as a foundation to your whole school approach. The booking link for the next suite of courses starting in March 2022 is https://skills4bradford.co.uk/T147839 

Primary, Secondary, Specialist schools and FE Colleges are invited to take part.

For in depth information on this national initiative please look here; https://www.gov.uk/guidance/senior-mental-health-lead-training 

This course is one of a number delivered nationally as an initiative to provide support in building a sustainable, whole school approach to emotional wellbeing and good mental health: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mental-health-and-wellbeing-support-in-schools-and-colleges 

Conditions of Admission & Accessing the DfE Grant

In your correspondence with the DFE, you may be asked to produce a code for this course. it is SMHL003

The criteria for admission on to the course, in order to be able to access the grant funding from the DfE, is that (a) you are a state funded schools (b) you have an identified Senior Lead (c) you are committed to the development of a whole school approach. The DfE has published its list of approved courses, along with further details on their opt-in DfE digital service to access a grant worth £1200 to pay for quality assured health lead training plus financial resources to pay for cover.

Grant News Update February 2022

I am pleased to share with you this announcement of an additional £3m, alongside Children’s Mental Health Week, enabling schools and colleges to start booking and attending your grant funded courses up to 31 May 2022. We have also updated our guidance at Senior mental health lead training - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Learners that are yet to make a booking and complete their grant application, and wish to start training before 31 March 2022,  submit evidence of their booking as soon as possible (and by 25 February at the latest).  

The DfE have informed us that a digital tool has been provided to assist senior leads consider their specific learning needs and preferences, enabling them to implement and sustain an effective whole school or college approach in their setting which can be found here; https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/smhl      

Booking with Bradford

Once you have made the decision to train with Bradford, please can you contact us on the email below. This will trigger a conversation including how to book the training and you will automatically receive an invoice. The DfE states the following explaining the booking/grant process;

To avoid delays in schools and colleges receiving training, eligible settings, that meet the terms set out in the grant funding conditions, you can book a place on a quality assured training course from 21 September 2021, ahead of applying for the grant. The department will guarantee to reserve the grant amount for these settings until the application form becomes available in the 2021 autumn term.You’ll need to sign up to be notified when the application form is available, and agree to submit an application within 2 weeks from the date you are notified that the online form is available. Once the online application form is available to schools and colleges, eligible settings must complete the online application form first, to ensure they have secured a training grant before they proceed to book a quality assured course. We’ll issue grants in 2021 to 2022 until our Financial allocation is used, the amount is enough to provide a grant to around a third of all schools and colleges this Financial year.

Contact Email: BradfordSeniorMentalHealthLeads@bradford.gov.uk

Bradford Training Content and Dates

Live virtual training will take place in the morning of the dates stated. We recommend, if possible, that your supply cover works the full day so that you can use the rest of the day for planning. There is a lot of content in the course, both at a management level but also at a clinical level. It is designed to support the Healthy Minds Chartermark but can also support other Chartermarks available nationally. We will be touching on the following frameworks to support your whole school approach, amongst other ideas:

1. Principles underpinning trauma informed practices includeing resilience

2. Principles underpinning Emotional Regulation Approaches; Emotion Coaching and Zones of Regulation

3. Principles underpinning Restorative Practice

4. Principles underpinning Mindfulness (linked to point 2.)

The virtual training, in the morning session, is targeted at delegates as 'managers' and reflects the 8 public health recommendations to build an effective whole school approach to mental health. You will receive a lot of documentation to read through for each session, as a support mechanism, plus a pdf of each of the courses.

1. Leadership and management
2. Ethos and environment
3. Staff development
4. Curriculum, teaching and learning
5. Coordinated support
6. Identifying need and monitoring impact
7. Parents and carers
8. Student Voice

The course will be as interactive as we can manage, and most importantly, it is very thorough so you will cover all the learning objectives required at beginner level. A lot of evidence based psychology is built into the courses, so they are theoretical as well as being practical.

Unfortunately, we are unable to offer the courses separately at this moment in time and we are also unable to offer a combination of the dates across the two suites offered this year.

In addition, we offer;

Half termly Support Webinar / Meeting lasting 1 hour for primary 5 – 11 (not available to Bradford Chartermark schools as they already receive additional support)

• Tuesday 23^rd November, from 3.30 - 5.00pm
• Monday 13^th December from 3.30 - 5.00pm
• Tuesday 1^st February from 3.30 - 5.00pm
• Tuesday 15^th March from 3.30 - 5.00pm
• Tuesday 3^rd May from 3.30 - 5.00pm
• Tuesday 14^th June from 3.30 - 5.00pm

Half termly support Webinar / Meeting lasting one hour for secondary 11 – 18 (not available to Bradford Chartermark schools as they already receive additional support)

• Tuesday 23^rd November, from 2.00 - 3.30pm
• Monday 13^th December from 2.00 - 3.30pm
• Tuesday 1^st February from 2.00 - 3.30pm
• Tuesday 15^th March from 2.00 - 3.30pm
• Tuesday 3^rd May from 2.00 - 3.30pm
• Tuesday 14^th June from 2.00 - 3.30pm

• Initial EP support for schools to begin working together using a peer support system dates TBC
• Time will be made available for all Leads who are NOT undertaking the Bradford Chartermark, for individualised support and QA of the plan they produce. They will be invited to a Teams meeting once every half term

MARCH 2022 BRADFORD DfE APPROVED SENIOR LEADS MENTAL HEALTH TRAINING

Further information on social emotional developments from the Educational Psychology Service can be found here https://secure2.sla-online.co.uk/v3/Resources/Page/18985