A Derby school for deaf children has become the first in the UK to gain a prestigious international award for its outstanding mental health and wellbeing provision.
The Royal School for the Deaf Derby has received a gold award, the highest accolade on offer from The Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools.
The Ashbourne Road school, which was found to be ‘excelling’ in every area assessed by the examiner, provides a wide range of activities to boost the wellbeing of pupils and staff.
Three pupils in the secondary school and two in primary have received training to become anti-stigma ambassadors and the school offers yoga and meditation, mindfulness colouring and special assemblies to explain the importance of talking about mental health.
RSDD has been awarded the gold certification by the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools.
The school also employs a part-time child psychologist and two deaf qualified art therapists, who are role models for success and have a first-hand understanding of the challenges faced by deaf children.
The assessor described the school as “a warm environment, with a family feeling and is a nice place to work” adding that staff feel that there is no hierarchy and that they have strong relationships with pupils’ families.
She was particularly impressed with the way the school dealt with lockdown, ensuring that children could access live lessons and social opportunities online so that they could still feel connected.
The school’s designated senior lead for mental health Lucy Noble said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have been awarded gold status. We work exceptionally hard to provide wellbeing support for our pupils because we recognise that deaf children are particularly vulnerable to mental health issues.
“It can be extremely isolating when you struggle to communicate with other people – whether that’s your own family, medical professionals or the community in general.
“Lockdown has been a challenging time for everyone and so to receive this accolade after such a demanding time is even more rewarding.”
The award was established in 2017 by the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools – part of Leeds Beckett University – and social enterprise Minds Ahead.
The assessor was particularly impressed with RSDD’s response to lockdown, prioritising the children’s wellbeing.
The scheme aims to strengthen pupils’ mental health by supporting schools to make a positive change at all levels of the UK’s education system, improving students’ outcomes and life chances.
Professor Damien Page, Dean of Leeds Beckett’s Carnegie School of Education, said: “Achieving this award is not just recognition of a whole-school approach to mental health, it’s a recognition of the school’s commitment to improving the life chances of children.
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“We’re truly proud to have worked with Royal School for the Deaf Derby in this vital work and look forward to further collaboration.”
Nationally, more than 800 schools have signed up to take part in the mental health award.
Dean Johnstone, founder and CEO of Minds Ahead said: “This award shines a light on the excellent work schools are doing to promote mental health for their community of children and adults.
“It is thrilling and humbling to learn about Royal School for the Deaf Derby and the many other schools engaged in the quality award process. I’d like to offer my congratulations on this deserved recognition.”
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