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<p>The government remains committed to promoting and supporting the mental health
and wellbeing of children and young people. Access to mental health and wellbeing
support is more important than ever during the COVID-19 outbreak and the department
has taken action to ensure schools and colleges are equipped to support children and
young people.</p><p>We have in particular prioritised children and young people’s
mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 outbreak. Getting children and young
people back into school and college is itself key to their wellbeing. We have worked
hard to ensure that all pupils and learners were able to return to a full high-quality
education programme in September. Our £1 billion COVID-19 catch-up package, with £650
million shared across schools over the 2020-21 academic year, is supporting education
settings to put the right catch-up and pastoral support in place.</p><p>Staff in schools
and colleges need to be equipped to understand that some of their pupils may be experiencing
feelings such as anxiety, stress or low mood as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak,
that these are normal responses to an abnormal situation and how to respond. This
is a central part of our guidance both on remote education and on the return to school.
We supported this with a range of training and materials, including webinars, which
have been accessed by thousands of education staff and accelerating training on how
to teach about mental health as part of the new relationships, sex and health curriculum,
so that all pupils can benefit from this long-term requirement.</p><p>To continue
this support we are investing £8 million in the Wellbeing for Education Return programme,
which will provide schools and colleges all over England with the knowledge and practical
skills they need to support teachers, students and parents, to help improve how they
respond to the emotional impact of the COVID-19. The programme is funding expert advisers
in every area of England to train and support schools and colleges during the autumn
and spring terms. More details are available here:<br> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wellbeing-for-education-return-grant-s31-grant-determination-letter"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wellbeing-for-education-return-grant-s31-grant-determination-letter</a>.</p><p>In
further education, the department has provided £5.4 million of competitive grant funding
through the College Collaboration Fund and five of the projects funded support student
and staff mental health and wellbeing through online programmes and remote support.</p><p>Schools
and colleges are not mental health professionals, and it is important that more specialist
support is available for children and their families. All NHS mental health trusts
have ensured that there are 24/7 open access telephone lines to support people of
all ages. Public Health England and Health Education England have also developed advice
and guidance for parents and professionals on supporting children and young people’s
mental health and wellbeing, which is available here:<br> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing</a>.</p><p>We
have also provided £9.2 million of additional funding for mental health charities,
including charities such as Young Minds, to support adults and children struggling
with their mental wellbeing during this time.</p><p>In the long term, we remain committed
to our major joint green paper delivery programme with the Department of Health and
Social Care and NHS England. This includes introducing new mental health support teams
linked to schools and colleges, providing training for senior mental health leads
in schools and colleges, and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist
support.</p>
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