Suicide prevention: schools and colleges

Current government initiatives to support mental health in schools and colleges in England include:

• Publishing guidance on promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing that explains the importance of a “whole school or college approach”.
• Increasing the number of Mental Health Support Teams working with schools, to around 500 by 2024. Established from 2018 onwards, these teams provide direct support to pupils with mild to moderate mental health problems, and to schools and colleges in developing whole-setting approaches. The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England: 2023 to 2028 confirmed that 44% of school and further education pupils were expected to be covered by the teams by April 2024, and at least 50% by spring 2025.
• Providing an online training module for RSHE teachers on mental wellbeing.
• The new government has committed to introduce a specialist mental health professional in every school. Colleges have also been offered funding to train a senior mental health lead.

The Department for Education has published guidance advising school staff on how to identify and support students who have unmet mental health needs. The guidance is specifically written for schools, but it states the interventions and support may also be helpful for colleges and other post-16 institutions.

Since September 2020, health education has been a statutory part of the curriculum in primary and secondary schools in England. The government has published statutory guidance on relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education. This sets out what pupils should know about mental wellbeing by the end of primary and secondary school, including:

• Discussing mental health conditions
• Recognising early signs of mental wellbeing concerns, and
• Knowing where to seek help.

The Department for Education published draft revised guidance shortly before parliament dissolved for the 2024 General Election. The draft guidance includes more detail relating to suicide prevention than the existing guidance, including that no direct references to suicide should be made before year 8.

A consultation on the draft guidance was open until 11 July 2024. The new government have not yet published a response.

Education policy is devolved. This briefing focuses on the situation in England, but information is also provided on relevant policies and statistics in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

This paper is part of a wider Library series on issues relating to suicide prevention. The following papers may be of particular interest:

• Suicide prevention: Policy and strategy
• Suicide statistics