Impact25th December 2023

A whole-school approach to mental health

Embedding mental health in the curriculum has been hugely influential in Ark Elvin’s journey from Special Measures to Outstanding in just six years.

Ark Elvin Academy

When headteacher Rebecca Curtis joined Ark Elvin in 2017 the school was in special measures.

“We were the sink school in Brent. When you walked into the building, there were lots of reasons why children were misbehaving, the challenges they were facing growing up in an area of significant disadvantage and going to a failing school.”

Five years later, the school is rated Outstanding and is oversubscribed. Students are proud to come to school and there’s improvement in every measure. “I don’t think we could have improved the way we have without our focus on mental health. It’s made our progress deep, genuine and thorough. You’re not just superficially improving exam results, you’re building relationships and trust between children and adults, which allows them to grow and develop as human beings, not just pass exams.”

Through form time lessons, mental health has been embedded into the curriculum. “We have built wellbeing, mindfulness and gratitude concepts into our day-to-day life. The curriculum introduces students to mindfulness approaches, zones of regulation, understanding the triggers for their stress and practicing asking for help. Having that as part of the daily curriculum means that adults and children are talking about mental health regularly and that normalises it.”