Mental health curriculum in education settings grant funding

Overview of the requirement

Warwickshire County Council (WCC) would like to offer Warwickshire maintained nurseries, primary, secondary, special schools and colleges the opportunity to bid for one-off grant funding to develop mental health curriculum in education settings. This grant funding will support children and young people to build their resilience and set their own goals focusing on their strengths and abilities.

WCC is looking to fund schools up to the value of £2,000. Bids must be a minimum of £500. The total value of the fund overall is £250,000.

Background

WCC Mental Health Curriculum in Education Settings Grant Funding is one-off funding aimed at maintained nurseries, primary, secondary, special schools and colleges to support the development of positive mental wellbeing behaviours in children and young people in Warwickshire.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on children and young people’s mental health. There is growing concern regarding negative impacts in youth populations, with lockdowns damaging social connections, learning and disrupting people’s ability to engage in usual coping mechanisms, and routine access to mental health and other support services.

The introduction of Relationships, Health and Sex Education (RSHE) as a subject became compulsory in primary and secondary schools in September 2020, although the government has given an extension until summer 2021 to schools who are not yet able to because of the pandemic we hope this grant funding will help support schools to develop initiatives to support the implementation of mental health into the curriculum.

Please note: All monies awarded as part of this funding application process will be transferred to the successful setting by end of March 2022 and must be spent within 12 months from award.

Intended outcomes and benefits

The Mental Health Curriculum in Education Settings Grant Funding is designed to support educational settings and education colleagues achieve the following outcomes:

Children & young people will be supported through the curriculum to build their resilience and positively manage their mental wellbeing
Children & young people will be supported to set their own mental wellbeing goals, focussing on their strengths and abilities
Staff will be supported to develop their confidence in delivering a mental health curriculum
Education settings will have a comprehensive and accessible mental health curriculum
Education settings will have an environment that supports positive mental wellbeing

Objectives

The fund will be available for education settings to access money for the following priority objectives:

Training and teaching resources (e.g., lesson plans, assemblies)
Physical resources (e.g. models of the brain, yoga mats, wellbeing rooms)
Staff time to be able to develop the resources and timetable

Launch of grant funding

The grant funding opens on Tuesday 4 January 2022 and has now been extended until Friday 28 January 2022 at 5pm.

Who can apply for funding

Maintained nursery schools
Primary schools
Secondary schools
Special schools
Colleges
This includes Academies

Please note: Only one application form can be submitted per educational setting in this extended grant funding window. If a consortia wishes to work on projects across their consortia and combine budgets please state this in your application form.

Who cannot apply for the funding

Independent schools
Alternative provision providers
Private early years settings and childminders
Individuals
Party Political Groups
Organisations with significant ‘free uncommitted reserves’
NHS Trusts
County Council or District, Borough, Town & Parish Councils

What will not be funded by the Mental Health Curriculum in Educational Settings Grant Funding

Projects that promote religious or party-political beliefs
Projects for personal profit
Social trips or holidays
On-going running (core) costs for the setting
Counselling or other therapies
Extra curriculum activities

Update on application

All applicants have been notified of the outcome of their application. Successful applicants will commence project delivery 1 April 2022.

Any queries relating to this grant funding please contact: mentalwellbeingfunds@warwickshire.gov.uk

Evaluation

Each organisation that successfully applies for Mental Health Curriculum in Educational Settings Grant Funding must support the evaluation process, which includes

Provide two progress updates (at 6 months and 12 months)
Progress updates to include both qualitative and quantitative sources of feedback on how outcomes, benefits and objectives have been met by the funding proposal
WCC reserves the right to request a full breakdown of expenditure and receipts