Jesmond Park Academy

WELLBEING AMHIE FINALISTS On 12 October, the Wellbeing Team at JPA were finalists for a national award for the Most Innovative Mental Health Intervention from the Association for Mental Health in Education (AMHIE). We were up against three other nominees: Derbyshire College, Loughborough School, and Queen's University Belfast. Previous winners of this award have included numerous city councils, mental health charities, and NHS-funded interventions from across the UK. The judges included Richard Daniel Curtis, CEO of The Mental Health Tick and The Root Of It, and Dr Rona Tutt OBE, former President of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT). When our category was announced, the judges gave JPA some amazing recognition for the impact of our wellbeing provision and the difference our interventions are making within the school. This feedback was very gratefully received. Unfortunately, we were pipped at the post by Loughborough. However, the excellent feedback we received, combined with the calibre of the other finalists, certainly softened the blow. JPA has been invited to reapply in 2027 and, with our new inclusion interventions becoming embedded across the school, alongside our continued commitment to prioritising mental health and wellbeing within both our ethos and educational provision, we are very hopeful of success in 2027.

COM GROUPS AWARENESS Keeping children and young people safe online The National Crime Agency's (NCA) CEOP Education team has launched some resources to help professionals, parents and carers understand and respond to the growing threat of online harm groups. Online harm groups, often referred to as 'Com Groups', use tactics such as grooming, coercion, manipulation and blackmail to exploit young people online. Their activity can overlap with a range of harms, including child sexual abuse. The guidance aims to provide a specific, measured and containing narrative from the NCA that supports proportionate action based on the current threat picture. Guidance for professionals - https://www.ceopeducation.co.uk/professionals/guidance/online-harm-groups/, helping those who work with children and young people understand the threat and respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns. Guidance for parents and carers - https://www.ceopeducation.co.uk/parents/articles/online-harm-groups, providing practical information to help families recognise the warning signs, support their child and access support. If you have any questions about the resources, please contact the team at ceopeducation@nca.gov.uk

Researchers at King's College London are looking for parents to take part in a study to understand more about how they make vaccination decisions on behalf of their children. The research will explore parents' experiences of the flu vaccination programme via school, as well as what they think and believe about vaccinating their child for flu and other vaccines. If you would like to be part of the research, and are a parent living in England with a child aged 4-16, you can access the survey link here https://qualtrics.kcl.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_3DCRvSraVDYLozA

A reminder school will be finishing at 2:30pm on Thursday 8th of October due to Year 13 parents evening.