Mental Health in Schools Working Group minutes: September 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) (Chair)

• Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS)

• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)

• Education Scotland

• Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP)

• Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS)

• National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT)

• NHS Education for Scotland (NES)

• School Leaders Scotland (SLS)

• Mental Health Directorate, Scottish Government

• Health and Wellbeing Unit, Scottish Government (secretariat)

Apologies

• UNISON

Items and actions

Welcome and apologies

The chair welcomed attendees. Introductions and apologies were made.

The Chair welcomed the new EIS representative to the group.

Minutes from the last meeting

SG provided an update on the actions from the previous meeting. Members were content with the minutes from the last meeting.

Action:

SG to publish minutes on the Scottish Government website.

Suicide prevention in education

Members discussed the paper on suicide prevention considered at the June meeting and the draft list of recommended actions circulated by email on 9 August.

COSLA provided an overview of the actions and invited feedback. Points raised included:

• members were broadly supportive of the proposed actions

• awareness of the Time, Space and Compassion resource remains limited among school staff; some areas have not fully adopted the Named Person approach

• postvention support section requires strengthening, particularly on supporting a school community following an incident. COSLA agreed to review

• engagement suggested with ES’s Complex Needs Network, ADES ASN Network and EIS ASN Network, to ensure coverage of special schools and ASN settings

• staff capacity and reduced ability to attend coaching sessions are impacting engagement. Any new training must consider workload, supervision and staff wellbeing

• resources should be integrated within existing platforms rather than issued as standalone material

• members otherwise indicated they were content to sign off the actions

Action:

COSLA to revise the recommended actions in line with feedback.

Review of resources

SG provided an update on progress of the review of the Whole School Approach Framework (WSA) and online professional learning resource and sought feedback from members. Some points raised on the WSA were:

• minor errors and typos require correction

• policy context, including references to COVID-19, requires updating

• curriculum section should be reviewed in light of Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC) developments

• strengthen alignment with: The Knowledge and Skills Framework for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing, Joint Delivery Board resources, including the One Good Adult job description and The Ask, Tell, Respond resource

• remove references to the Health and Wellbeing Census

• strengthen content on children’s rights and move the section on participation higher up

• include a clearer description of relevant external/social determinants (e.g. gender roles, bullying, GBV) and consider using a diagram

• improve links to digital content recognising changing patterns of online engagement

• potentially summarise the principles to support staff given time constraints

• consider including early years more explicitly

• consider emerging work on staff supervision, including local pilots (e.g. Edinburgh)

• explore support from comms team to produce accessible version

• consider a subgroup to support development

Actions:

• SG to incorporate feedback and bring updated WSA content to a future meeting

• SG to issue an MS Form enabling members to select sections of the online resource for review

• all members to review their allocated sections in advance of the next meeting

Self-harm in education

COSLA introduced the discussion paper and invited comments, particularly on the role of the curriculum and staff across school settings in supporting self-harm and feedback on the description of the role education in supporting self-harm. The following key points were raised:

• self-harm and suicide should be treated as distinct topics

• including self-harm within the curriculum presents significant risks and challenges; the evidence base is limited

• normally this content would sit within PSE, however many staff delivering PSE have no prior experience in this area

• there is currently no national training available for staff on self-harm

• content should focus on coping strategies, emotional regulation, and help-seeking rather than explicit discussion of self-harm, due to risks of normalisation or contagion

• any curriculum content must be embedded within a broader whole-school approach to wellbeing and support

COSLA welcomed further feedback from members via email.

Action:

Members to provide any additional feedback to COSLA on self-harm in education by email.

Any other business

• COSLA highlighted it had provided an update to the Strategic Board on the work on the Mental Health in Schools Working Group. The group noted the importance of ensuring appropriate links

• a question was raised about potential expansion of group membership

• SG highlighted the forthcoming meeting with Children’s Parliament on 29 October focussing on bullying and mental health

• SG raised the recent Supreme Court ruling and the impact this may have on young people, highlighting the importance of timely advice and support

The Chair thanked members for their contributions and closed the meeting.