Further resources:

• Now and Beyond is a mental health and wellbeing festival for educational settings. Founded by youth mental health charity Beyond, the festival offers a programme of live online events for teachers and pupils as well as access to teaching resources and a directory of youth mental health and wellbeing experts. Now and Beyond 2024 will take place on 7th February 2024.
• To help primary schools mark Children’s Mental Health Week 2024, the National Literacy Trust has produced assemblies and lesson plans based on Charlie Mackesy’s book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. The resources are designed to encourage pupils to explore what mental wellbeing means and to reflect on the ways the characters in the book look after their own wellbeing. You can also download assembly presentations for primary and secondary schools from previous years that highlight the relationship between reading, writing and wellbeing. All website resources available with the NLT’s free membership.
• Children who are the most engaged with literacy are three times more likely to have higher levels of mental wellbeing than children who are the least engaged, according to a 2018 report from the National Literacy Trust. Read the full report here.
• The English and Media Centre produce illustrated creative writing workbooks for secondary pupils to encourage them to explore their own creativity. Just Write and Write On each contain over 40 writing activities for pupils to choose from.
• Catch up with an interview with Dr Alex George, Government Mental Health Adviser and author of award-winning children’s non-fiction book A Better Day, as he talks about his own lived experiences and shares some tops tips for good mental health on the Read for Good website.
• Books Beyond Words are award-winning, wordless picture books covering topics such as physical and mental health, lifestyle and relationships, trauma, and grief. The books are designed to be used with children and young people who find pictures easier to understand than words to help them develop the emotional vocabulary to express their feelings and empower them to take control of their emotions and behaviours.
• BookTrust has compiled lists of recommended titles for all ages that explore issues of mental health and emotional literacy.
• Books for Topics has recommended booklists to support mental health and emotional literacy for primary aged children.
• The Reading Well Programme provides booklists that help young people of all ages understand and manage their mental wellbeing.
• Take a look at the mental health and wellbeing book packs for KS1 and KS2 from Best Books for Schools.
• LoveReading4Kids has produced a list of titles that can help children and young people understand their emotions and cope with feelings of anxiety.
• The What’s Up with Everyone campaign is designed to increase mental health literacy in young people. It provides a series of animated stories with a companion website covering topics such as Perfectionism, Loneliness and Social Media.
• Beano for Schools in partnership with Young Minds has created a series of nine lesson plans featuring favourite Beano characters to help children understand their emotions and mental health better. The lesson plans include a short animation, PowerPoint presentation and activity sheets. There are versions for KS1 and KS2 and everything is linked to the PSHE curriculums in England, Scotland and Wales.
• The Wellbeing Wednesday teaching schemes are fully resourced wellbeing teaching programmes designed to cover a term’s learning for primary schools.
• The Mentally Healthy Schools website is a mental health information and resource hub for schools.
• Healthy Minds is a set of free resources to support teacher-led workshops and activities for UKS2, KS3 and KS4 students produced by LGfL – The National Grid for Learning in partnership with mental health charity Young Minds.
• Find more resources to support Mental Health and Empathy here.