Health Education: Schools

(asked on 12th July 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to support mental health and wellbeing education in secondary and primary schools on (a) self-harm, (b) suicide, (c) addiction and (d) eating disorders.


Answered by
Brendan Clarke-Smith Portrait
Brendan Clarke-Smith
This question was answered on 20th July 2022

Relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) is now a compulsory part of the curriculum. The statutory guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.

The RSHE curriculum has a strong focus on mental wellbeing. The aim is to give pupils the information they need to make good decisions about their health and wellbeing, and to recognise the early signs of mental wellbeing concerns, including common types of mental ill health.

Pupils are taught where and how to seek support and whom in school they should speak to if they are worried about their own or someone else’s mental wellbeing.

These subjects have been designed to support the development of pupils’ self-control and their ability to self-regulate. Body image and mental wellbeing are explicitly covered in the RSHE curriculum. At secondary level, teachers may choose to discuss issues such as self-harm, addiction and suicide when teaching these topics.

To support schools to deliver this content effectively, the department has produced teacher training modules which are free to download. The mental wellbeing module contains key information to help inform teachers what they must teach. The module can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-mental-wellbeing.

Reticulating Splines