Hosted by the Anna Freud Centre, this free seminar will take place online. In June schools and colleges will start to reopen their gates to pupils and students. But will schools and colleges ever be the same again? Do we want them to? Before the lockdown schools were already heavily engaged with mental health, but these seminars will ask if there is more that we need to do to embed mental health in our education system.

 

The transition back to school will be complicated enough. Children and young people will have been out of school for a minimum of two months. Some will have felt the loss of friendship; some may have experienced bereavements; some may feel disappointed that the exams they worked so hard for will not take place. Others may feel relieved and worry about going back.

 

It’s clear that this return to school or college is not a normal transition. It’s an opportunity for us to think again what we want from education. We’ve seen an outpouring of kindness – for support of NHS staff and other key workers (including teachers) – and the concern for the health and financial wellbeing of our friends, families and neighbours. But how deep is this? Does this herald a new approach for society? And what does it mean for education and mental health and in particular our most challenging children and young people?  What do we want to do differently when schools and colleges return.

 

For more information and booking please click here.