Further resources:

• Sign up for a Children’s Mental Health Week virtual assembly for primary schools on Monday 3rd February from the School of Kindness and explore their selection of lesson plans, poems and other kindness resources. All resources are free to download with registration.
• Nicola Morgan, author of No Worries! How to Deal with Teenage Anxiety, will be discussing ways to help young people become more confident, independent and resilient in an online event on 5th February. Suitable for teachers, librarians and parents, tickets cost £20.
• Now and Beyond is a mental health and wellbeing festival for educational settings. Founded by youth mental health charity Beyond, the festival offers a programme of live online events for teachers and pupils as well as access to teaching resources and a directory of youth mental health and wellbeing experts. Now and Beyond 2025 will take place on 5th February.
• To help primary schools mark Children’s Mental Health Week 2024, the National Literacy Trust produced assemblies and lesson plans based on Charlie Mackesy’s book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. The resources are designed to encourage pupils to explore what mental wellbeing means and to reflect on the ways the characters in the book look after their own wellbeing. Resources available with the NLT’s free membership.
• Download a series of wellbeing-themed reading and writing resources for primary and secondary schools, including book lists and assembly presentations, from the National Literacy Trust website. Available with their free membership.
• Three Coram charities have combined to create a Mental Wellbeing Toolkit for primary schools based on the Five Ways to Wellbeing framework. The toolkit includes drama activities, lesson plans, recommended booklists and book chat questions. Free to download with registration.
• Explore the Building Self-Esteem resources from the Premier League Primary Stars, suitable for pupils age 7-11. Free to download with registration.
• The NewsWise Happy News Project is designed to help primary-aged pupils focus on positive and uplifting stories while developing key speaking and listening skills, journalistic writing and reading skills, and teamwork. Download a free learning sequence, templates and supporting resources from the National Literacy Trust website.
• Beano for Schools in partnership with Young Minds has created a series of nine lesson plans featuring favourite Beano characters to help children understand their emotions and mental health better. The lesson plans include a short animation, PowerPoint presentation and activity sheets. There are versions for KS1 and KS2 and everything is linked to the PSHE curriculums in England, Scotland and Wales.
• The What’s Up with Everyone campaign is designed to increase mental health literacy in teenagers and young adults. It provides a series of animated stories with a companion website covering topics such as Perfectionism, Loneliness and Social Media.
• Download wellbeing lesson plans for teenagers aged 11-18 developed by BrainWaves, a long-term collaborative research and education programme led by the University of Oxford in partnership with The Day and the University of Swansea. The lesson plans have been developed using the latest evidence from brain science and pedagogy and there are also free CPD webinars for teachers. Free to download with registration.
• Children who are the most engaged with literacy are three times more likely to have higher levels of mental wellbeing than children who are the least engaged, according to a 2018 report from the National Literacy Trust. Read the full report here.
• Books Beyond Words are award-winning, wordless books covering topics such as physical and mental health, lifestyle and relationships, trauma, and grief. The books are designed to be used with children and young people who find pictures easier to understand than words to help them develop the emotional vocabulary to express their feelings and empower them to take control of their emotions and behaviours.
• BookTrust has compiled lists of recommended titles for all ages that explore issues of mental health and emotional literacy.
• Books for Topics has recommended booklists to support mental health and emotional literacy for primary aged children.
• The Reading Well Programme provides booklists that help young people of all ages understand and manage their mental wellbeing.
• Take a look at the mental health and wellbeing book packs for KS1 and KS2 from Best Books for Schools.
• LoveReading4Kids has produced a list of titles that can help children and young people understand their emotions and cope with feelings of anxiety.
• The Mentally Healthy Schools website is a mental health information and resource hub for schools.