A high school has adopted a two-year strategy to place staff and students’ mental health and emotional wellbeing at the forefront of every school day.

Haslingden High School is using the NHS Five Steps to Mental Wellbeing and has already begun work on the first step – connect with other people.

The school held a series of assemblies on student wellbeing and mental health and staff members were encouraged to wear a yellow item of clothing to promote the charity’s Hello Yellow day.

Headteacher Russell Clark said: “There has never been a more important time to focus on wellbeing, both for students and staff.

“Each term we are using one of the NHS steps as our focus, we had a dedicated wellbeing session and we encouraged staff to use their CPD [Continuous Professional Development] time to do something other than work.

“Schools have been hard hit by Covid, but I am proud of the way our staff and students have handled it.

“I want to thank students for the way they have tackled the obstacles of the last 18 months and it has been inspiring to see how they have approached this first half-term.

“I also want to thank parents for their overwhelming support.”

There has been a larger than usual uptake in PE after school clubs and being physically active is another of the wellbeing steps.

Feel Good Friday is the school’s weekly event to acknowledge staff and students’ achievements, along with star of the week, where students are presented with a badge by the headteacher.

A wellbeing school badge been created to promote the NHS five steps and new displays have been added to the walls to foster discussion and conversation.

Over subsequent terms the school will focus on the four other NHS steps: Be physically active; Learn new skills; Give to others; Pay attention to the present moment – mindfulness.