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St Wilfrid’s Catholic School in Crawley was lauded directly by the Secretary of State for Education during a debate in Parliament last week. Giles Watling, the Conservative MP for Clacton, asked what steps the Department for Education is taking to increase mental health training in schools. The Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, replied:

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“Schools promote and support the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils to help them thrive and reach their potential.  My Department is helping schools to develop effective approaches to mental health by offering senior mental health lead training. More than half of all state schools and colleges have received that training grant since September 2021. To give children more access to support, we are increasing the number of mental health support teams from 287 in 2022 to 400 in 2023, and the number of teams will grow to 500 in 2024. I recently visited St Wilfrid’s Catholic School in Crawley, where I saw the fantastic work done by that school and West Sussex’s mental health support team to offer one-to-one support and group sessions for pupils who are struggling to prepare for their next steps.”

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The Diocese is rightly proud of the work being done in schools such as St Wilfrid’s and knows that headteacher, Michael Ferry, who hosted the Secretary of State’s visit in February, is equally delighted. He complimented staff accordingly saying:

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“Fantastic work’ done by fantastic staff for fantastic students”.  

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Fantastic work indeed!