Mental Health in Schools Working Group minutes: April 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) (Chair)
• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
• Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP)
• UNISON
• Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS)
• Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS)
• National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT)
• Education Scotland
• School Leaders Scotland (SLS)
• Support and Wellbeing Unit, Scottish Government
• Mental Health Directorate, Scottish Government

Apologies

• Children in Scotland
• NHS Education Scotland

Items and actions

Welcome and apologies

The chair welcomed attendees. Introductions and apologies were made.

Minutes from the last meeting

Members were content with the minutes from the last meeting.

Action: SG to publish minutes on the Scottish Government website.

Updated Terms of Reference

COSLA provided an overview of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategic Landscape, including how the Working Group fits within the broader governance structure, to address questions raised at the previous meeting.

SG confirmed that there is also an action in the relationships and behaviour action plan to work with this group to consider how to encourage take up of mental health resources, so will be reporting back to SAGRABIS where appropriate too.

Members were content to sign off the terms of reference following the amendments suggested.

Action: SG to update Terms of Reference and upload to website.

Members were content with the proposed focus of the group. This will include:

• Understanding how aware schools and local authorities are of the resources.
• Understanding how schools are using the resources, potentially sharing best practice where they are being used effectively.
• Exploring what updates may be required to the resources to ensure they are current and helpful.
• Deciding how best to raise awareness and promote resources.

It was proposed that upcoming meetings will take a ‘deep dive’ approach into specific topics. The June meeting will focus on suicide prevention and the September meeting will explore self-harm.

Latest evidence and trends

To support discussion around updating resources, SG provided high-level insights from the Health and Wellbeing Census and school counselling data. Key links were highlighted between mental health, bullying and school attendance.

Resources – discussion and next steps

Members agreed that a key next step is to better understand awareness and usage of the online professional learning resource and the Whole School Approach Framework.

Actions:

• Chair to gather feedback from the ADES network on the awareness and usage of the resources.
• SG to draft a standardised template for members to share with their networks to gather feedback on the resources.

AOB

COSLA shared an update on a collection of practice stories gathered from across Scotland, illustrating how schools are adopting a whole school approach to suicide prevention. These examples are not intended to represent best practice, but to share learning and inspire others. They are supported by a podcast featuring area leads discussing their work and reflections.

SG noted that the Children’s Parliament is currently working on a set of Calls to Action which include actions around mental health and bullying. Children are producing a film to highlight these priorities and would like the opportunity to present and discuss this with the group at a future meeting. Members were supportive of this.

The next meeting will take place at 11:30am on 25th June.