St Edwards
Primary School

St Edwards Primary School joined HeadStart in 2015. Over two years, children at the school have participated in the HeadStart BounceBack programme. BounceBack is a 10 week course that guides primary aged pupils through 10 key areas of wellbeing encouraging them to set goals and make small changes in their lives to build resilience. Jayson Branigan, the HeadStart Youth Practitioner supporting St Edwards, said

“The aim of BounceBack is to take the students on a resilience journey improving their confidence and social skills.”

The children at St Edwards have all been recommended to HeadStart by school staff. HeadStart offers whole school training to help staff spot the early signs of mental health problems. To date, HeadStart has trained over 1,200 of the borough’s school staff to identify pupils who could benefit from additional support to improve their resilience. The programme provides schools with access to programmes like BounceBack to support the mental health needs of the young people in their care.

Diane Tatnell, Assistant Head Teacher at St Edwards said,

“This is our second year of BounceBack and it goes from strength to strength. There are a lot more confident children and happier children as well.”

HeadStart is working with 40 primary schools and 14 secondary schools in Newham. So far, over 500 young people have taken part in HeadStart activities like BounceBack.

St Edwards Primary School has praised HeadStart’s approach to supporting young people. Diane said,

“I’ve found that the children are very enthusiastic about joining the BounceBack sessions every week and they talk to me about it with such enthusiasm.”

Click here to meet some of the young people who have taken part in BounceBack at St Edwards.