Pupil wellbeing is crucial for academic success, personal development, and mental health. According to the University of Oxford Impact Study, pupil wellbeing is influenced by various aspects of school life, such as curriculum, assessment, relationships, environment, and support. Therefore, a holistic and evidence-based approach is advisable for schools and trusts seeking to promote wellbeing.

In this blog, we will introduce five resources that you can use to improve pupil wellbeing: 

• Oxford Impact: a resource for planning your wellbeing strategy
• 5 Steps to Wellbeing: a resource to address pupil wellbeing at the school level
• Classroom Wellbeing Toolkit: a resource for teachers to support pupils
• YoungMinds Stress Bucket: a resource for pupils to better cope with stress
• Britain Get Talking: a resource for parents to start conversations about wellbeing with their children

These resources are based on the latest research and best practices in the field of education and mental health. They are designed to help schools implement effective strategies and interventions to support pupils’ emotional, social, and psychological needs.

Oxford Impact

Based on the findings of a recent study by Dr. Ariel Lindorf from the University of Oxford, here are some evidence-based approaches to planning a pupil wellbeing strategy for your school or trust: 

• Adapt to and consider your specific school context: Conduct proper self-evaluation before implementation to identify and address the school’s strengths and assets as well as the issues that need to be solved 
• Adopt a whole-school approach (integrated, cross-level): Make sure that broader school policy aligns with implementation
• Involve the wider community, including parents and families 
• Emphasise professional development for teachers to assist them with implementation 
• Establish monitoring systems to track and modify implementation as required 
• Provide adequate time and resources to facilitate implementation

A key part of this framework is encapsulated in adopting a “whole-school approach,” and the next resource provides tangible information for schools that want to adopt it.

5 Steps to Wellbeing

The 5 Steps to Wellbeing resource from Anna Freud is a practical guide for schools to promote a whole-school approach to positive mental health. The resource is based on a framework which suggests five steps to improve wellbeing: 

• Leading change: having a school-wide ethos that ensures that wellbeing policies are aligned
• Working together: including parent and pupil voices when working on wellbeing
• Understanding need: measuring wellbeing and developing interventions
• Promoting wellbeing: integrating wellbeing across curriculum and school culture

Supporting staff: surveying, supporting, and training staff on wellbeing

Source: Anna Freud

The 5 Steps to Wellbeing resource provides examples, tips, and activities for each step, as well as links to further resources and support. It can also help schools to identify and address the barriers and challenges that may affect wellbeing, such as stress, anxiety, and isolation.

Classroom Wellbeing Toolkit

The Classroom Wellbeing Toolkit from Anna Freud is a collection of resources and activities for teachers to use in their classrooms to support pupil wellbeing. The toolkit provides guidance on responding to stress, low mood, and anxiety and preventing bullying. Each section contains various resources and activities suitable for different ages, abilities, and contexts.

Source: Anna Freud

The Classroom Wellbeing Toolkit can help teachers integrate wellbeing into their everyday teaching practice by providing them with easy-to-use and engaging resources and activities. It can also help teachers to foster a positive and supportive classroom environment where pupils feel safe, respected, and motivated.

YoungMinds Stress Bucket

The YoungMinds Stress Bucket is a simple and effective tool for helping pupils understand and manage their stress levels. The resource uses the metaphor of a bucket that can fill up with stressors, such as homework, exams, peer pressure, family problems, etc. The resource also introduces the concept of coping strategies, such as relaxation, exercise, hobbies, talking, etc., that can help to empty the bucket and reduce stress.

Source: YoungMinds

The Stress Bucket can help pupils recognise and express their feelings of stress in a visual and interactive way. It can also help pupils practice healthy and positive ways to cope with stress by encouraging them to find what works best for them. YoungMinds provides lots of free tools for pupils of different ages, and this resource is just one example.

Britain Get Talking

The Britain Get Talking is a campaign and a resource that aims to encourage pupils and families to talk more and listen better to improve their mental health and wellbeing. The resource is a simple exercise that asks: “What’s on our minds can be the hardest subject. So what’s on yours?” By filling out a free downloadable booklet, parents and their children can participate in a shared activity that opens the door to improving wellbeing.

Source: Britain Get Talking

Schools can recommend the Britain Get Talking homework exercise to parents who are interested in supporting their child's mental health and wellbeing. It can also help schools strengthen their links with families and communities by supporting them to have more meaningful and positive interactions.

What’s Next?

We hope this blog has inspired and guided you on improving pupil wellbeing in your school or trust. If you found this blog useful, it is clear that you are interested in evidence-based approaches to addressing pupil wellbeing. As part of next steps, consider:

• Investigating the data your school or trust collects on pupil wellbeing and selecting the resources most appropriate based on your needs
• If your organisation does not yet collect data, learn more about what you could gain by running our Pupil Learning Experience and Wellbeing Survey
• Reading Pupil Wellbeing in Schools to understand national trends in pupil wellbeing from 2020 to 2023

As we start a new year, our lives are buzzing with the hopes, dreams, and fears of what the next 12 months have in store. Making New Year’s resolutions is great for reflecting on your accomplishments and setting future goals. However, as reducing teacher workload becomes a priority, perhaps a different approach is needed.

There’s a new trend on the rise. It looks not to add to your overflowing to-do list but to streamline and cut back. Effectively, it leaves more time for things that really matter in your life. The idea of “anti-resolutions” or “de-implementation” is to reflect on what practices are not getting you the results you want.

This tip was shared with us by John Murphy, ex-CEO of one of England's largest multi-academy trusts. If you'd like to see more of John's recommendations, as well as unlock the wisdom of the top 2% of trust leaders, download our free Leadership Guide.

What does the workload data show?

In the Edurio Staff Experience and Wellbeing survey, we ask the question: 

How easy or difficult is it to stay on top of your work responsibilities? 

Alarmingly, 40% of 46,723 staff respondents in the 2022/2023 school year said it is quite difficult or very difficult to stay on top of their work responsibilities. Only 26% said it’s very easy or quite easy to do so!

School and trust leaders should think about de-implementation strategies to combat the ever-growing workload issue in the education sector today and reduce teacher workload. The organisation Evidence for Learning points out some appealing benefits of de-implementation, writing that, 

“De‐implementing an approach may free up resources such as time, physical resources, staff, energy or finances. Freeing up resources can enable schools to focus on more effective approaches.”

So, let’s look at how you can define your organisation’s anti-resolutions this year.

Reduce teacher workload by bringing feedback into your school improvement journey.

School improvement is not just about implementing the newest research-backed strategies to get the most for your students. It’s also about understanding what strategies or habits aren’t working anymore.

So, ensure you regularly check in with your stakeholders to monitor workload and wellbeing. Make sure to get feedback on the systems you have in place in your organisation.

The Edurio Strategic Feedback Survey Cycle is built to get the most out of your feedback survey. By knowing what you want to understand better about your stakeholders, you can ask more direct questions in your survey and get the answers you seek.

To help you find ways to reduce teacher workload, ask staff what creates the most significant blocks in their work. Give them space to share ideas on what to scale back to lighten the workload.

Results analysis that leads to impactful de-implementation.

When analysing your survey results, consider the context of your organisation. That means using other information available to you to help you decide which areas are prime for de-implementation. If you find evidence of existing strategies with low, nonexistent or negative impact, add them to the list of possible things to de-implement.

For example, if your focus is on reducing teacher workload, consider what activities are taking place in your organisation and how you can free up space to ensure staff can really focus on teaching and learning.

Finally, you must carefully plan and monitor your anti-resolutions. That way, you are supporting your stakeholders to stop doing things just as much as you would in new endeavours. Prioritising is key.

Oliver Burkeman writes in the Guardian,

“Since your time is finite, and the potential ways to fill it are infinite, and setting a priority means deciding to use a portion of it on something – well, it stands to reason that something else must head to the back burner or be abandoned entirely.”

Make sure you are communicating thoroughly and consistently all through the cycle steps. Furthermore, get people involved along the way to understand the underlying goal of cutting back to make room for more impact.

We wish you a very happy new year! We hope you find the anti-resolutions you need to achieve the biggest impact for your school or trust in the coming months!

What's next?

If you have any feedback or would like to learn more about reducing staff workload at your organisation, feel free to contact us at hello@edurio.com.

Edurio can help you find the most effective way to gather, analyse, and implement stakeholder feedback within your organisation. We have prepared a set of key materials to support you on your school improvement journey. Fill out the form below, and access the materials now.