Welcome to the
Compassionate Schools Hub
A Lancashire-wide movement of schools and colleges, working alongside families and partner agencies, who are adopting evidence-based whole setting approaches to improve the wellbeing of their communities. It is a welcoming place for staff in education to connect, celebrate and learn together.
A warm welcome
The Compassionate Schools Hub is the culmination of a 2 year project that has been commissioned and funded by the Lancashire County Council Public Health Team.
We met with a range of professionals working within education, parents and carers, and pupils to hear what is important to you. Through focus groups, surveys and workshops, your ideas and inspiration informed the development of the Hub right from the very start.
The aim of the Compassionate Schools Hub is to provide every school and college across the Lancashire region with the tools needed to implement a whole setting approach to emotional wellbeing and mental health.
Our vision is that the Compassionate Schools Hub becomes a community of practice where we come together to share our successes and learn from each other, and through our collective action improve outcomes for pupils, families and staff.
Alongside this, we have introduced the Compassionate School Award and the Compassionate College Award that any setting within Lancashire can work towards. These awards represents a setting’s best efforts in implementing a whole setting approach wherever they are on this journey.
Department for Education (2021) 8 principles of a whole setting approach to emotional health and mental wellbeing
Who we are
We are the Lancashire Emotional Health in Schools and Colleges Service (LEHSS), a small team of clinical psychologists working from Lancaster University. Our service is commissioned and funded by the Lancashire County Council Public Health Team to support all schools and colleges within Lancashire.
We take a preventative and early intervention approach, providing evidence-based training and consultation to staff. We support settings to promote positive mental wellbeing and identify early those who may need more emotional health support, before problems get worse. We are committed through sharing knowledge and supporting practice to our goal of improving the emotional wellbeing of all children, families and staff within education across the county.
Over the past 10 years, we are proud to have engaged with over 80% of primary schools, 90% of secondary schools and 95% of sixth forms and colleges.
What the Compassionate Schools Hub can offer your setting
Lancashire Emotional Health in Schools and Colleges (LEHSS) offers specialist evidence-based training, consultation and networking events to support you on your journey to implementing a whole setting approach to emotional health and mental wellbeing.
Alongside this, every school and college within Lancashire will access a secure password-protected account that enables you to:
Evaluate your setting against the Department for Education's (2021) 8 principles of best practice for a whole setting approach to mental health using our Self Assessment Tool.
Demonstrate best practice as the Self Assessment Tool and LEHSS training usefully map onto the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework as well as the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guidance.
Access comprehensive summary reports with personalised recommendations for your setting. An effective way to summarise evidence for Ofsted inspections and monitor progress over time.
Celebrate your achievements by capturing case studies of best practice via the scrapbook function. Choose to post a case study to the Community Scrapbook to share your success stories with others.
View a Training Dashboard to quickly identify skill gaps within your staff team and find the LEHSS training available to meet those needs. Individual staff who have attended 3 or more LEHSS training sessions will be recognised and awarded the title of Compassionate Champion.
View your progress towards the Compassionate School Award or the Compassionate College Award with our checklist that automatically updates when your setting has met a criteria allowing you to enjoy a simple and straightforward process.
If your setting doesn't have an account yet and you'd like to join the community, please contact us.