Why is this education needed ?

2021 Ofsted Sexual Abuse Report:

"Schools have also been tasked with ensuring that young people are ‘confident to ask for help and support when they need it’. That is a very tall order. The young people who were interviewed for the Ofsted review made it clear that they were afraid to ask for help because of the risk of social ostracization and punitive measures for abusive peers actually put young people off talking to an adult about abuse."

Working Together to Safeguarding Children 2023:

"Schools, colleges, early years and childcare settings, and other educational providers (including alternative provision) all have a pivotal role to play in safeguarding children and promoting their welfare. Their insight and co-operation are vital to the successful delivery of multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. People working in education settings play an important role in building relationships, identifying concerns and providing direct support to children."

Children have said that they need:

• Vigilance: to have adults notice when things are troubling them.

• Stability: to be able to develop an ongoing stable relationship of trust with those helping them.

• Support: to be provided with support in their own right as well as a member of their family.

• Advocacy: to be provided with advocacy to assist them in putting forward their views.

• Protection: to be protected against all forms of abuse, exploitation, and discrimination, and the right to special protection and help - if a refugee.

 How Safe are Our Children – NSPCC 2020 Key findings from 2020:
"Rates of police recorded physical, sexual and online abuse offences against adolescents are higher than rates against younger children.
Rates of adolescents in care are higher than rates for younger children, with the exception in some nations of infants under the age of one.
Rates of adolescents subject to a child protection plan or on a child protection register are lower than rates for younger children.
Many of the risk factors associated with abuse and neglect have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, while the support services that would traditionally identify and respond to these concern's have been unable to see many of the children and families they work with face-to-face." 

"In the last three years, the likelihood of young people having a mental health problem has increased by 50%. Our Good Childhood Report 2022 shows that children's happiness continues to decline. Now, five children in a classroom of 30 are likely to have a mental health problem."

(The Children’s Society research) 

"One in six children aged five to 16 were identified as having a probable mental health problem in July 2021, a huge increase from one in nine in 2017. "

(Young Minds Organisation)

"50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24. 10% of children and young people (aged 5 to 16 years) have a clinically diagnosable mental problem, yet 70% of children and adolescents who experience mental health problems have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age."

(Mental Health Foundation)

 As Anne Longfield, Chair of the Commission on Young Lives and ex-Children’s Commissioner, states:

“As our previous reports have shown, a collapse in many of the family and youth support services that existed ten or twenty years ago leaves us playing catch up. As one parent put it to us during our evidence sessions: ‘all the stuff that used to be there to prevent things happening isn’t there anymore.’ The mental health epidemic experienced by children and young people before the pandemic has not only grown but has deepened in its impact. Unless we rethink and improve access to mental health support, we risk putting the post Covid generation of vulnerable children in even greater danger of exploitation, abuse, and poor life chances.” 

Ofsted Annual Review 2022-2023:

“in many schools, different parts of the curriculum are too isolated and not as well-connected to other content as they should be. For this reason, pupils’ knowledge does not build over time”

“in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education and citizenship, some schools do not identify what pupils need to know and be able to do”

“teachers do not receive enough professional development to give them sufficient expertise to teach subjects such as PSHE and citizenship well.”

PSHE Association 2019:

“To be considered ‘Outstanding’ in terms of behaviour and attitudes, schools need to show that their students have high levels of respect for each other, are supportive of one another’s wellbeing and can demonstrate high levels of self-control.

PSHE education helps our pupils to know how they can support each other, manage their own behaviour and get help for themselves or their friends when they need it.”

• 1 in 10 children have a diagnosable mental health condition.
• Half of all mental health problems begin by the age of 14, and 75% by the age of 24.
• Almost one in four children and young people show some signs or evidence of mental ill health, including anxiety and depression.
• Suicide was the most common cause of death in 2015 for both boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 19.

Source: youngminds.org.uk