Welsh Government commissioned this report on school-based strategies to promote emotional health, well-being and resilience among primary school pupils. Our aim was to synthesise an extensive international body of scholarly work at the interface of education, mental health and psychosocial functioning, and combine this with a systematic assessment of lessons learned from the implementation of specific strategies at local and national levels.
Our final report, published February 2016, presents evidence-based recommendations for Welsh Government policy regarding a national strategy in this area. The report has implications not only for strategic policy development within the Education and Skills department of Welsh Government, but also for the newly emerging programme of work on emotional and mental health (‘Together for Children and Young People’) led by the NHS in Wales. Most importantly, it has played a key role in shaping the work on Health and Wellbeing as a key Area of Learning and Experience within the new Curriculum for Wales.
Our overall argument is that school-based work in this area can be very effective, and that school systems need to be strongly connected with each other in order to translate the research evidence into sustained positive impacts.