Separation anxiety, a specific type of anxiety disorder, affects nearly 1 in 20 pupils, with about one-third of these cases persisting into adulthood if left untreated. Separation anxiety can be particularly intense during school transitions. It can manifest in various ways, from reluctance to attend school to more subtle signs of distress in older students.

To help parents and carers navigate this challenging time, experts at Explore Learning, a leading tuition provider, are addressing six commonly asked questions around separation anxiety:

1. What are the symptoms of school separation anxiety to look out for?

Parents should be aware of signs such as refusal to go to school, increased clinginess, and physical complaints such as stomach aches or headaches. Children might also express fears about harm coming to a loved one, reluctance to sleep alone, or fear of being left alone for short periods. Recognising these symptoms as early as possible allows parents to provide support before anxiety escalates.

2. What triggers school separation anxiety?

Common triggers include stress from changes in routine, new school environments, or academic pressures. Parental stress can also be a factor, as children often pick up on and internalise their parents’ anxiety. Understanding these triggers can help parents create a calmer environment and proactively address potential issues.

3. What age does school separation anxiety start?

Separation anxiety can begin as early as six months old and typically lasts until around age 3. Separation anxiety can persist in older children, especially during significant transitions like starting a new school year, moving from primary to secondary school, or transferring to an entirely new school. Parents should be prepared to offer support at various stages of their child’s educational journey, adapting their approach as needed.

4. How can parents keep to a routine in September to decrease separation anxiety?

We recommend creating a consistent morning routine, planning a special goodbye ritual, ensuring regular sleep patterns, and gradually reintroducing school-related activities. Establishing and maintaining these routines can give children a sense of predictability and security, helping ease anxiety as they transition back to school.

5. What strategies can parents use to combat back-to-school anxiety?

There are several strategies parents can use to combat back-to-school anxiety:

• Identify a ‘safe adult’: Work with teachers to designate a trusted staff member as a ‘safe adult’ for your child. This person can provide comfort and support during moments of anxiety at school.
• Send comforting notes or mementoes: Pack small, meaningful items in your child’s bag, such as a family photo or a short, encouraging note. These can provide reassurance throughout the day.
• Open communication: Encourage your child to talk openly about their worries. Listen attentively and acknowledge their feelings without dismissing them. This validation can help your child feel understood and supported.

Combining these strategies can create a supportive framework for children, helping them feel more confident and secure when returning to school.

6. How can children of all ages develop self-soothing strategies to manage anxiety at school?

We recommend helping children create a ‘self-soothe box’ filled with comforting items they can take to school, such as a small teddy, family photo, or positive notes from parents. Encourage older students to use calming apps during breaks, practice mindfulness between classes, or keep a stress ball or fidget toy in their pocket. Teaching simple relaxation techniques like deep breathing can benefit children of all ages. Additionally, journalling or engaging in brief physical activities like stretching or walking can help manage anxious feelings. By equipping children with these self-soothing tools, parents can empower them to handle their anxiety more effectively at school, regardless of their age.

By equipping children with these self-soothing tools, parents can empower them to manage their anxiety more effectively when at school.

Amandeep Sanghera, Head of Maths and English at Explore Learning, concludes: “While back-to-school separation anxiety is a common challenge, it’s also highly manageable. By implementing these targeted strategies and maintaining open communication, parents can help transform their child’s separation worries into confidence for the new school year. At Explore Learning, we’re committed to supporting parents and children in overcoming separation anxiety, ensuring they feel secure and ready to embrace their educational journey.”

Crafting can significantly help children open up, as it creates a relaxed environment to discuss their emotions.

The seven-page booklet includes activities like creating a “calm book” to identify things that make them feel happy and relaxed, meditation tips, and a task to draw their “safe adults,” helping children recognise who they can turn to for support.

YPO celebrated the launch of its new booklet by hosting a ‘Craftathon’ event at Jerry Clay Academy in Wakefield . The day-long event saw pupils from all year groups engage in various crafting activities, completing the booklet while opening up about their feelings.

The initiative focused on championing mental wellbeing, making it a central theme of the school day. By participating in creative activities, pupils were encouraged to recognise and discuss their emotions.

Tony Palin, Deputy Headteacher at Jerry Clay Academy, said: “Encouraging children to have an open and healthy attitude towards mental wellbeing is crucial. This event is a step in the right direction towards improving their understanding of emotions. It was fantastic to see pupils of all ages engaging in these conversations creatively.”

The ‘Craftathon’ marked a significant step forward in promoting mental health awareness and emotional openness among students, setting a positive tone for future initiatives.

Since 2022, YPO has partnered with the NSPCC. In 2024, it reached a significant milestone, raising over £100,000 for the charity. This achievement is another example of YPO’s ongoing commitment supporting the NSPCC’s vital mission.

The ‘Craft and Chat’ booklet is now free to download on YPO’s website: www.ypo.co.uk/ypo-brand/nspcc/craftathon

Last month’s publication of the DfE’s second annual survey, ‘Working lives of teachers and leaders’, confirmed what we already know, ‘rating workload and job satisfaction’, 88% of the education workforce are experiencing stress, and only 46% report job satisfaction.

When too many employees feel they have an unacceptable workload over which they have no control, and little job satisfaction, it doesn’t provide the best recipe for success. So, what might MATs and schools do? ‘People strategy – creating a coherent framework for employees to be hired, managed, and developed to support an organisation’s long-term goals. It helps ensure that the various aspects of people management work together
to drive the behaviour and climate to meet performance targets.’ Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)

A people strategy is designed to get the most out of your staff, by ensuring they get the most out of their job. It encompasses a significant number of components designed to attract, support, develop, build and retain staff expertise, commitment and belonging. For example, the employee offer, rewards and benefits; equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging; employee management and development; talent identification, workforce, and succession planning; and of course, staff wellbeing and mental health. These strands overlap and the
greatest challenge is usually finding time to make sense of them all, in our far too busy world. So where to begin? A great question to ask is ‘How well do your staff see themselves represented within your organisation? Do they feel a part of it? Do they share your values, feel listened to and well supported?’ Every MAT and school has a mission, vision, and values, and these should reflect a focus on the wellbeing of everyone in the community. Where the values are ‘lived’ and staff can consistently articulate behaviours that demonstrate this, they are far more likely to be effective and satisfied. Happy, contented, and supported employees give more, and in the long term ‘cost less’, with lower absence and longerterm commitment, leading to higher retention of valued staff.

Building the right culture, one where staff want to work and can do their best work, is like building a house and putting down firm foundations. Instead, many choose to start at the top by addressing external motivators and focusing too much on the package they offer to staff, including perks and benefits. Schools may provide staff activities, such as yoga, breakfast and cakes, or perhaps staff training on how to improve their own wellbeing;
there’s nothing wrong with any of these as additional actions, but they are not the place to start.

Addressing the causes of poor wellbeing, culture, and retention, rather than symptoms, ensures the delivery of much needed change, not just sticking plaster solutions. Striving for improvement and actively supporting cultural transformation by increasing and maintaining wellbeing, is a continual process. Whether in a MAT or school, assessing and understanding where you are now is so important. It means you can be clear on where you want to get to, establish your success measures, set out the actions you will take to get there, track progress and then repeat.

Seeking regular staff feedback, using an anonymous survey and other data analysis tools, such as the ‘9 box grid’, will help inform your action plan. Effective follow up means workforce planning is ‘built in’ to the development plan. Improvements and challenges are highlighted and using data to make decisions, usually provides a better outcome.

Be sure to:
• Ensure consistency and parity across the trust or school and adopt those practices that demonstrate the best return.
• Effectively share resourcing and knowledge across the trust or school.
• Develop a proactive recruitment strategy, guided by internal workforce planning and foresight into external factors and influences.
• Implement effective mechanisms for enabling everyone to contribute.
• Use intelligent insight to enable a review of progress and address any shortfalls in a timely and supportive way.
• Identify talented staff members and create a pipeline which underpins your succession planning and which enables staff to see their next steps.
• Develop a mobile workforce, based on need and support.

Identifying talent and building a succession plan
There are two key areas to focus on when identifying talented staff members – their
‘performance’ and ‘potential’.
Performance is what they have done – their track record, and more importantly how they have done it – their behaviour. We all know of people that deliver their objectives but leave a trail of destruction behind them! Potential is their likelihood of being stretched and being able to undertake more senior roles, and their ambition, whether they want to progress.
MATs usually offer a greater opportunity to develop a pool of talent, given the number of staff and ability to work across schools, particularly where they are geographically well located. The same approach can be successful in schools, identifying the current and likely future value of individual staff members, highlighting the available opportunities and the extent of any challenges.
Focussing on performance and potential, makes it easier to provide the right development and training to meet individual and organisational needs. These might include local workshops, national qualifications, coaching and mentoring, additional responsibility, developing new projects or working with others identified as having talent.

Other opportunities include those for high performers who lack ambition. These can be among the many staff to leave because they can often be taken for granted and feel unappreciated. Career paths that allow progression without moving to a leadership role are something that MATs will usually find easier to offer, compared to individual schools.
As part of the process you follow, you should also identify those at risk of leaving, their likely
future roles, potential replacements, and other key insights, allowing you to build an effective succession plan.

For further information, support, and advice
about creating a culture with staff wellbeing at its
centre, please contact  www.welbee.co.uk

The findings are published as three-quarters of schools in the UK celebrate Anti-Bullying Week reaching over 7 million children and young people. The campaign urges children across the country to reach out to friends and trusted adults if bullying is taking place.

The research finds that both those being bullied and the children who bully others have a bad experience of school life, disliking going to school, feeling less safe and having poorer relationships with their teachers.

The research underlines the lasting effects of being bullied, with children frequently on the receiving end having significantly poorer wellbeing than those who do not report being bullied at all. Interestingly, those who frequently bully others have the poorest wellbeing whether they bullied online or face-to-face.

Anti-Bullying Week takes place from the 14 to 18 November and has the theme Reach Out. The week will kick off with Odd Socks Day on Monday 14th November, where adults and children wear odd socks to celebrate what makes us all unique.

This research is released along with an open letter from the Anti-Bullying Alliance consortium of over 200 organisations calling on all adults to consider the example they are setting to children and young people about how we treat each other.

Whilst there are many examples of kindness and respect that we can share with young people to showcase how we should treat each other, far too often children see negative discord amongst adults that influences their behaviour. We believe it imperative we consider the impact our words and actions have on the children and young people who are learning from us.

The campaign is supported by many celebrities and influencers, including Anti-Bullying Alliance patron and children’s television star Andy Day who with his band Andy and the Odd Socks is releasing the single ‘Calling Out’, bringing alive playgrounds, classrooms and assemblies across the UK.

Martha Evans, Director of the Anti-Bullying Alliance said: “Children and young people need to know there is help out there if they are being bullied or are witnessing bullying. It starts by reaching out to someone you trust if you need to talk. Reaching out to someone you know is being bullied. Reaching out to consider a new approach.

“And it doesn’t stop with young people. From teachers to parents and influencers to politicians, we all have a responsibility to help each other reach out.

“That is why members of the Anti-Bullying Alliance have written an open letter calling on adults to consider the example they are setting to young people about how we treat each other.

“Whether it is during a Twitter spat, arguments in parliament, a relationship breakdown on the latest reality TV show, or a row on the street; children are too often watching. They are listening and they are learning from us.”

Andy Day, patron of the Anti-Bullying Alliance and CBeebies presenter said of Odd Socks Day: “We are over the moon to be working with the Anti-Bullying Alliance again on such an incredibly important issue. Encouraging acceptance of individuality at an early age can help prevent bullying later in life and raising awareness on the issue of bullying is very important to us. Odd Socks Day is a fun day where we can do all of this! We would LOVE for your school to get on board!!”

For more information, please see: https://anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/anti-bullying-week/anti-bullying-week-2022-reach-out

Released today as an academic working paper, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the study explores work-related anxiety of more than 13,000 classroom teachers and headteachers in England at 75 points between October 2019 and July 2022.

It reveals that prior to the pandemic, one in four (25%) headteachers were highly anxious about work – only slightly above the level of class teachers. However, during the pandemic, around 35% of headteachers reported that they regularly had high levels of anxiety about work during term time, which was consistently higher than for class teachers. This reached a peak in January 2021, when almost two-thirds (65%) of headteachers in England felt highly anxious about work, compared to 42% of class teachers.

With the study also revealing that the share of deputy and assistant heads who say they want to become a head teacher one day has fallen from 56% pre-pandemic to 48% post-pandemic, the authors have raised concerns around the declining levels of those seeking headship.

Study co-author Professor John Jerrim (UCL Social Research Institute based at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society) said: “The COVID-19 pandemic led to one of the biggest shocks the world has ever seen – with schools closed and disruption to working patterns and conditions. Coupled with ever-changing government policy around schools, it’s unsurprising that the pandemic had a major impact on staff across the sector.

“However, the differences in levels of anxiety are quite shocking, and the additional strain that was put on headteachers in particular is clear. It’s vital that the government now reflect on guidance and support given to school leaders during difficult periods, with greater attention paid on ensuring that schools can recruit and retain the best headteachers in future.”

The study also highlights the substantial differences in working hours across the pandemic and between teacher roles. During the first lockdown in March 2020, class teachers worked around 25-30 hours per week, compared to a pre-lockdown norm of closer to 45 hours. Headteachers reported that they were regularly working around 20 hours more per week during the first lockdown than class teachers, and around 10 hours more per week during the rest of the pandemic.

The researchers found that during the first wave, delivering direct instruction on-site rather than at home, providing live lessons and working longer hours were all associated with higher levels of work-related anxiety.

However, the paper also highlighted that levels of anxiety were not uniform across different groups of teachers in the study, with differences seen across gender and parental status. Before the pandemic, male and female teachers with young children (under five) had reasonably similar levels of anxiety about work, with around one in five experiencing high levels of work-related anxiety. But, at the height of the pandemic in winter 2020, around a third of female teachers with a child under five felt highly anxious about work, compared to a fifth of males.

Study co-author Dr Sam Sims (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities) said: “What’s clear from this study is that the effects of the pandemic have been felt unevenly across the school workforce. Prior to the pandemic, women already had higher work-related anxiety than men. We found that amongst teachers with pre-school children, it was mainly women who became more anxious about work.”

Dr Emily Tanner (Programme Head at the Nuffield Foundation) said: “By tracking anxiety levels, this research provides an important new perspective on the immediate and longer-term impact of Covid on the school workforce. The heightened pressures faced by school leaders and the declining appetite for headship among deputy and assistant heads highlight the need for better support to shore up sustainable leadership.”

To establish their findings, the researchers collected data using an app called ‘Teacher Tapp’. Respondents were asked to rate their anxiety about work on a given day from 0 (‘not at all anxious’) to 10 (‘completely anxious’), with ratings given at the same time and day each week.

Respondents were also asked questions about their work environments, such as the learning activities they had done that day, number of hours worked, and how often during the pandemic they were on site (at school).

The researchers then used statistical modelling to explore differences in average work-related anxiety scores before and during the pandemic between groups with different characteristics (gender, job role, parental status (and age of children), and school characteristics), as well as whether teachers were working from home or on site.

The researchers note the limitations of their study, highlighting that the Teacher Tapp panel is a self-selecting sample rather than a random draw from the teacher population. They also note that their analysis focuses specifically on the work-related anxiety of teachers and does not include other related aspects of mental health such as depression and stress, which may have been impacted in subtly different ways.

A Northampton Principal has invested in mental health training for over 40 teaching staff in an attempt to build an ‘army of fully trained coaches’ to support the entire school community. 

A study of almost 11,000 students in 52 mainstream state secondary schools across the UK has found that despite the pandemic adversely affecting the vast majority of young people, far fewer pupils with special needs can be classed as “at social and emotional risk” now, compared with before the pandemic.

This bucks the trend for young people overall, tens of thousands of whom have experienced a serious decline in their wellbeing since the end of lockdown.

The study, by young people’s mental health experts STEER Education, found that before the pandemic, an estimated one in five students with special needs could be classed as “at social and emotional risk”.

Between the end of the pandemic and this July, this fell to just under one in six. This means that across the country, the equivalent of more than 8,000 students are no longer “at social and emotional risk”. The study counted students with special needs as those with an Education and Health Care Plan – a guarantee of statutory support.

In sharp contrast, the findings show that the wellbeing of young people without special needs has dramatically deteriorated in the same period, something the study suggests is the result of the detrimental impact of prolonged school closures.

Before the pandemic, one in six students without special needs could be deemed to be “at social and emotional risk”. As recently as July this year, this rose to almost one in four – 24% – the equivalent of nearly 400,000 more students.

The study shows that during lockdown many thousands of special needs pupils honed skills that make them more able to cope with the emotional ups and downs of life. Many gained confidence in adapting to change, grew more resilient and developed a healthier approach to trusting others, the study found.

The study’s authors say that while many of these young people may have found the pandemic challenging, the social-emotional skills they have gained will lead to marked improvement in the wellbeing of special needs pupils. They argue that this is largely the result of the specific approach taken by schools to support these pupils.

It is well known that many special needs pupils find busy classrooms detrimental to their wellbeing. While the overall experience of lockdown was extremely difficult for all students, many of those with special needs found it easier to both be in school with fewer students and to at least partly study at home.

They also appeared to greatly benefit from increased teacher-pupil ratios, access to devices for online learning and regular calls from school staff to make sure they were coping as well as possible. The combination of these factors – and others – are likely to have had a strikingly positive effect on their wellbeing, the study’s authors say.

Before the pandemic, one in seven young people with special needs had significant difficulty trusting other people, according to the study. Over the last few months, this has fallen to just one in nine. These young people are also now better able to adapt to changing circumstances in their lives. Before the pandemic, one in seven young people with special needs struggled to adapt to change, but over the last few months, this has also fallen to one in nine.

Worryingly, the opposite is the case for students without special needs.

Before the pandemic, about one in eight young people without special needs had difficulty trusting other people, according to the study. Over the last few months, this has risen to one in five. The same goes for those able to adapt to changing circumstances in their lives. Before the pandemic, one in ten young people without special needs struggled to adapt to change, according to the study. Over the last few months, this has risen to one in six. This means they may seek help less frequently and be more prone to perfectionism and anxiety.

The study analysed the responses of 10,942 secondary school students to 48,890 assessments of their wellbeing. The assessments took place before the pandemic, during it and over this summer. The results from all three periods were compared. Rather than measure a pupil’s own perception of their wellbeing, the assessments measure underlying patterns in a young person’s wellbeing by analysing their ability to adjust to different social-emotional situations and interactions.

Students described as those with special needs – 6% of the study’s overall sample – are those with Education and Health Care Plans (EHCPs). EHCPs give a young person a statutory right to support for their special needs or disabilities. The latest government figures show that at least 4% of students in primary and secondary schools in England have an EHCP so the schools sampled in this study may have a marginally higher proportion of students with special needs.

Simon Antwis, a former headteacher and school inspector who is STEER Education’s Senior Business Development Consultant, said: “These findings give us unexpectedly good news – the wellbeing of students with special needs is improving. Huge credit should go to all school staff who work with these students.

“However, the study also shows that while schools have done their very best, overall the wellbeing of many students continues to decline. Schools need to make sure they are aware of as many students as possible who need support.

“Too many use student voice tools, such as online surveys and chat hubs, which only detect a proportion of those students who need support. These tools fail to support the ‘hidden middle’ – those who may be showing early signs of self-harm, bullying, anxiety and unhealthy self-control.”

Tania Mayes, who is responsible for special needs at a secondary school in Devon, said: “This study reveals what is happening in many secondary schools up and down the country.

“In the aftermath of the pandemic, schools have understood much more about the individual requirements of their students with special needs and their relationship with them – and their families – is closer.

“However, if we are to continue to see a sustained improvement in the wellbeing of these students, schools will need to have smaller waiting lists for external providers and additional funding.”

If successful, the availability of these programmes is likely to be rolled out across Scotland.

CAMHS Service Manager in Grampian, Amanda Farquharson (left of picture) explains: “Existing international research on the effectiveness of internet-delivered interventions for young people who are struggling with their mental health is limited. Our team sees huge potential, particularly in terms of early intervention and helping those around children and young people to gain support and advice, and we are very pleased to be taking part in this trial.”

The programmes are available online, via trusted partner SilverCloud, and include ‘Supporting an Anxious Child’ and ‘Supporting an Anxious Teen.’ These are designed to help any adult who has a caring role, using evidence-based approaches.

For young people themselves, the programmes which are designed for those aged 15+ cover ‘Space from Anxiety’, ‘Space from Low Mood’ and ‘Space from Low Mood and Anxiety’. They are specifically designed to help young people manage and overcome overwhelming feelings of anxiety, worry, panic and low mood.

Paul Toseland (right of picture), cCBT Lead for NHS Grampian, is leading the trial locally. He adds: “While anxiety, worry and panic can play a healthy role in alerting us to problems or challenges, they can easily become overwhelming, ongoing and ultimately debilitating, especially in our busy, constantly connected, modern world. Having space to explore these issues, the causes of them and address them can be hugely beneficial for children and young people.

“We have seen a huge rise in the number of young people coming forward with concerns in recent years and we hope this will help ensure they and their families can access support as quickly as possible.

“I think anyone who is a parent or carer or is involved in supporting young people can relate to the overwhelming feeling of worry we can have when faced with some of the more extreme emotions of children and young people we care so much for. Parents in particular tell us this can feel very isolating and we hope this can go some way towards addressing that, with the benefit of trusted advice and guidance.”

The courses for adults who have a caring role are open to anyone living in Grampian and are accessible by visiting: https://cypgrampian.silvercloudhealth.com/signup/ and using the access code: Grampian

For now, the programmes for young people are only available by referral if a child or young person is being supported by CAMHS. The hope is in the future young people will be able to access these directly through referral from their school or GP.