Weston College has been recognised for its outstanding mental health and wellbeing provision by becoming the first College in the UK to be awarded the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools ‘Further Education Mental Health Award’ – Gold Status.

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 Award aims to strengthen students’ mental health by supporting schools and colleges to make a positive change at all levels of the UK's education system, improving students’ outcomes and life chances.

The Department for Education recognises a direct link between positive mental health and successful outcomes; the Further Education Mental Health Award builds on this link and provides a framework for educational institutions to evidence policies and initiatives that work towards improving emotional health and wellbeing for both staff and students.

The award ensures the institutions are using evidence-based approaches that align to professional and government guidelines. Utilising a developmental framework, which allows schools, colleges and sixth forms to evaluate current mental health practices, identify gaps, develop and strengthen these and work towards building an emotionally healthier environment. Through this process, the institution commits to making mental health a strategic priority and developing a positive culture that promotes mental well-being for everyone.

Weston College is led by Principal and Chief Executive Sir Paul Phillips CBE, who has been committed to creating an ethos which puts mental health, wellbeing and welfare at the forefront of college investment to help achieve the College’s mission of creating brighter futures for all its staff and students regardless of their starting point in life.

The Award assessor commented that Weston College presented a detailed profile of evidence that demonstrated they are excelling across all eight competencies of the Further Education Mental Health Award. The College has used the framework to further develop their excellence in the national arena.

Weston College has been a beacon of best practice for a number of years in mental health and wellbeing and is one of three SEND Centres for Excellence around the theme of “people and work”. In this capacity the College has worked with more than 100 colleges in the UK and also trained regional specialists for the Association of Colleges sharing best practice on topics such as authentic inclusion, psychological safety, autism, and trauma. They have also become the first college in the country to support staff to achieve the MHFA Suicide First Aid certification following a successful trial of this new qualification.

Sir Phillips commented; “This is a fantastic achievement for the College in such an important policy area, where we are delivering real impact for our students and staff. Credit should also be given to Dr Georgie Ford our Mental Health and Wellbeing Excellence Lead who led on the award coordination and our talented Mental Health and Welfare team who have also done an exceptional job in raising awareness and delivering a fantastic service that is making a real difference to student and staff’s mental health and wellbeing.”

Professor Damien Page, Dean of Leeds Beckett’s Carnegie School of Education, said: “Achieving this award is not just recognition of a whole-college approach to mental health, it’s a recognition of the college’s commitment to improving the life chances of its students.”

Dean Johnstone, founder and CEO of Minds Ahead said: “This award shines a light on the excellent work schools and colleges are doing to promote mental health for their community of children and adults.”