Health and Wellbeing
Meeting the Mental Health needs of: Children Living in Poverty
See school through the eyes of a child living in poverty, and make small changes that stop cost and shame getting in the way.
- 22 minutes
- 5 modules
- 0.5 CPD hours
- Certificate
Members
14 days free, then £70 a year or £7 a month.
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What you'll learn
- Understand how poverty affects children's sense of safety, belonging and hope
- Ask first before sanctioning lateness, missing kit or messy homework
- Set homework and trips that don't depend on money or a desk at home
- Build a resource bank of spare equipment, uniform and toiletries
- Make school easier for parents under pressure to approach and ask for help
About this course
A child who's late because they walked miles to school, or whose homework is messy because they wrote it on the bedroom floor, can get told off for things they can't help. Poverty wears on children's mental health in ways that aren't always visible: worry about the next meal, a cold house, a sense that they don't belong.
You'll learn to spot that pressure and ease it, with eight practical steps built around risk, resilience and resources. Some are as simple as spare uniform and somewhere to wash it, or homework every child can actually do. Others are habits, like a quiet conversation before any sanction. For families, there are ideas like a book swap in place of the book fair, and chatting to parents at the gate.
One exercise is worth trying tomorrow. Walk into your school the way a parent would. Would you know where to go?
- For governors and mental health leads. Primary and secondary.
5 modules
Open in order
- 3 min
Introduction
- 8 min
Mental health challenges
- 8 min
Meeting the needs of the CLP
- 4 min
Meeting the needs of the families
- 2 min
Closing thoughts