We are delighted to announce that Woodlands Academy have achieved the Wellbeing Award for Schools. This is a fantastic outcome for the school as it recognises the hard work that has gone into this process.  

We signed up to the Award to further develop our work to promote positive wellbeing and mental health for the whole school community and gain accreditation for the work we have already done.  

Achieving this reward required the involvement of all members of the school community; students, staff, parents and external agencies. During the accreditation process we sought the views of the whole school community to understand the challenges they face and how best we can support them.  

We are always keen to challenge and we knew that this award would require us to reflect on our current practice and improve it, to better equip ourselves to support our students, staff and parents. We also wanted to embed an open culture where mental health is discussed without stigma and prejudice.  

Throughout this process we have created a vision and strategy that we can embed, grow and develop.  

Some of the feedback from our verifier:

“The evidence as a whole painted a very congruent picture of a school which displays a huge philosophical, educational and practical commitment to emotional wellbeing and mental health.” 

“The most important evidence, perhaps, was the atmosphere that pervaded the Academy. This is difficult to capture and impossible to measure, but it can be characterised by the mutual respect and good nature that was the hallmark of all adult communications and the happiness shown by the students, together with their easy relationships with, and trust of, the adults that worked with them.” 

Although we are now successfully verified we know that our work on improving positive mental health and wellbeing does not stop here. We will continue to work with our whole school community on how to best support students, staff and parents.  

Thank you to all those who have contributed and continue to be a part of ​moving our mental health strategy forward.