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The Mental Assault of the 9-1 GCSE 5 Year Curriculum
In October 2013, the Department for Education (DfE) announced that a new secondary school accountability system would be implemented from 2016.
The government appointed a panel of experts, which included subject specialists and teachers, to devise the new curriculum. Their brief was to emulate the world's most successful school systems, including those in Hong Kong, Singapore, the Canadian state of Alberta and the US state of Massachusetts, in international tests. The aim was to combine best international practice with best practice from schools in England.
Headline measures, including Progress 8 and FFT and other KS2 data are now used to generate aspirational targets to capture the progress pupils in a school make from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school. It is a type of value added measure, which means that pupils’ results are compared to the actual achievements of other pupils across England with the same prior attainment. Schools are judged at baseline level for OfSTED scoring on these measure and so targets for pupils are individually set and often aggressively chased in the classroom. It means that the 50% of pupils who are under average are scored poorly, as is the school.
Many secondary schools have reported that the increased pressure on teachers and pupils alike is having a significant effect on mental health. The issue is becoming hard to ignore.
Schools, parents, the NHS and other mental health services are desperately stuck between governmental targets and their duty of care towards the pupils mental health. They are simply not equipped to cope with the inevitable mental health fallout, so high and so sudden is their demand is currently. It is fair to say it has caused a teenage mental health crisis.
Schools are doing all that they can to address the situation and many now actively employ counsellors and regularly update teachers as to who is vulnerable to mental health fatigue in their classroom.
As a parent, the change in your child can be worrying and in some cases highly distressing to witness but you are not powerless to help. You have made the first step by recognising the problem, and from here, there is a great deal you can now discuss and explore to support your child.
CAMHS Threshold and Other Options at School To Explore
Many schools are struggling to manage such a steep rise in pupils requiring mental health support. They are employing counsellors and regularly share information to ensure pupils are safeguarded. Often their only additional support is CAMHS however many pupils fail to meet the incredibly high threshold for this assistance. The NHS simply cannot cope with such a sudden increase in teen mental health issues, resulting in an average wait time (NHS Digital 2018) as being 6 months for a CAMHS appointment. Many pupils sadly fall through the inevitable mental health gap and this is causing a national crisis of teen mental health.
Good schools will have a school nurse, counsellor, tutor, head of house, head of year, favourite teacher, support teaching assistant ELSA or other professional person that they can approach.
It is important for your child to understand that staff cannot keep any details of disclosure confidential to the child if there is a safeguarding risk. There is legal duty to disclose information to the schools designated safeguarding lead who will act on the information given and from there, systems can be put in place to support a child.
Is Private Therapy The Only Option?
Private Therapy is NOT the only option left to you.
It is an option available to parents who are financially solvent. We wish it were not the case, however this is the reality. Therapy is expensive. While a great deal of charity work is completed by Sarah Jane Morris Therapy, at this time therapy can be booked on a fee paying basis only.
We acknowledge the frustrating reality that it is only those who have access to financial means that can access this service. We are aware of the problem and behind the scenes there is active communications with government to try to change this situation for all parents.
We believe that therapy, good therapy, should be available to all children of the united kingdom, particularly while the same government that should be providing it, is the same one as demands so much of young people.
Please see below for a list of the most common issues that we at this private practice are able to assist parents and teachers with to help young people.
Adolescent Therapy and Common Challenges for Teens
Anxiety at School
Anxiety at School
Anxiety at School
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United Kingdom, impacting an estimated one in eight children. Left untreated, childhood anxiety can result in poor school performance, poor social functioning, and even substance abuse.
Anxiety presents in a variety of contexts within the classroom setting, but is sadly often the “silent” mental health condition that teachers miss and parents desperately notice and can do little about at home. The child might appear to be “quiet” or “disengaged”, but really their brains are consumed with worry about increasing examination pressures and individualised 9 -1 GCSE targets.
While we as a country strive for better education actually, often, anxiety is a direct result of the pressures that schools therefore place on pupils. It is easily managed and may need a longer term solution but with experienced support, there is a gentle way for recovery to develop and for coping strategies to be implemented very successfully.
Depression
Anxiety at School
Anxiety at School
Studies show that almost one in four young people will experience depression before they are 19 years old in the UK. This is rising fast in line with the pressures of the new 9-1 GCSE 5 year curriculum implemented in the UK in 2016.
It's important to get help early if you think your child may be depressed as the longer it goes on, the more likely it is to disrupt your child's life and turn into a long-term problem.
Problems as a consequence of school can trigger depression in children and teenagers and so can cause problem behaviour, especially in boys which may mask the issue. Older children who are depressed may misuse drugs or alcohol.
Whatever is causing the problem, take it seriously. It may not seem a big deal to you, but it could be a major problem for your child. You could contact their school to see if they have any concerns and they may refer your child to a counsellor or their local child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) for specialist help.
If your child does not reach the incredibly high threshold however then the unique understanding of Sarah Jane Morris may assist. She has a history of 20 years in education and has seen the rapid increase of depression in teenagers, and has an outstanding history of treating this in the educational setting.
Eating Disorders
Anxiety at School
Eating Disorders
A lot of young people, many of whom are not overweight in the first place, want to be thinner. They often try to lose weight by dieting or skipping meals. For some, worries about weight becomes an obsession. This can turn into a serious eating disorder. Again, a huge increase of self harm has been seen in teenagers post introduction of the new GCSE framework in 2016.
Someone with anorexia nervosa worries all the time about being fat (even if they are skinny) and eats very little. They lose a lot of weight and their periods become irregular or stop.
Someone with bulimia nervosa also worries a lot about weight. They alternate between eating next to nothing, and then having binges when they gorge themselves. They vomit or take laxatives to control their weight.
Both of these eating disorders are more common in girls, but do occur in boys. It’s important to remember that, if allowed to continue unchecked, both anorexia and bulimia can be life-threatening conditions. Over time, they are harder to treat, and the effects become more serious.
Sometimes, anorexia and bulimia may be a way of trying to feel in control if life feels stressful.
If untreated, there is a risk of infertility. thin bones (oesteoporosis), stunted growth and even death, but if treated, most young people get better.
Selective Mutism
Supporting YOU support your child
Eating Disorders
One of the most humbling experiences is when an electively mute teenager decides that they trust you enough to talk to you. So begins an incredibly special and rewarding professional relationship, so fragile that it is built in the beginning of breath and soap bubbles.
Over time, these relationships reveal great depths of the teenager and in a trusting situation the child can begin to explore why they feel as they do and begin to decide how to move their life on in a way that ensures they can achieve their goals and reintegrate back into society.
Above is a card from such a teenager who was mute for four years and is now back in the school setting, achieving and thriving. Here is his farewell card.
It is always an honor to work with these young people.
The therapy cannot on this matter be rushed. It is a slow process and results can be immediately seen however language comes slowly and at the pace dictated by the child not the therapist. This must be understood by the clients parents. A teenager is not going to walk in mute and exit after an hour, quoting Shakespeare and laughing. Progress is like forming new river paths. It is slow and strong.
Self Harm
Supporting YOU support your child
Supporting YOU support your child
Few things trigger a more immediate panic reaction in parents than finding out that a child is engaging in self-harm. Unfortunately, it’s fairly common, and the reaction of the parent plays an important role in helping teens in the recovery process.
Cutting into the skin is the most widely known form of self-harm but in fact, self harm can include substance abuse, excessive exercising, binge eating or food withdrawal, burning, hair pulling, or even hitting oneself.
Teens who self-harm tend be skilled at hiding their behavior from their parents, friends, and other adults in their lives. While some parents might notice scars or marks on a teen’s arms, torso, or legs, many of the red flags for self-harm tend to be subtle.
An important part of helping teens recover from self-harm is understanding why they do it in the first place. There isn’t a simple answer to this question but, in general, some teens use self-harm to relieve tension by stimulating endorphins while others use self-harm to feel physical pain instead of emotional numbness. Stress and pressure, anxiety, and depression are all associated with self-harm in adolescence.
It’s perfectly natural to feel worried, overwhelmed, or even angry if you discover that your teen is using self-harm to cope with emotions. It’s important to remain calm and engage in getting help from a therapist who is not alarmed by self harm. Open and honest communication without judgment is essential from a professional experienced in dealing with who specializes in self harming teenagers, anxiety and depressive disorders.
Though self-harm is generally not considered suicidal in nature, there is an elevated risk of suicidal behavior for teens who self-harm. Psychotherapy helps teens work through the triggers that contribute to negative thought patterns and learn positive coping skills to use instead of engaging in self-harm behaviors. With early identification, professional support, and supportive home and school environments, teens can learn to use positive strategies to cope with complex negative emotions and work through their triggers.
Supporting YOU support your child
Supporting YOU support your child
Supporting YOU support your child
If you're worried about your child or need advice and support for coping with anything affecting your child's emotional or mental health, there are different ways to seek help. If you are reading this, then you have probably exhausted all of them and are tired and frustrated. We understand this completely.
Many of our clients and parents tell us that they have exhausted all ways to help their child. They have tried talking to their child, the GP and the NHS. They have been referred to CAMHS, teachers, counsellors at school and MIND. They have approached the look up service on NHS Direct, tried Young Minds, MindEd, Relate, they may have even contacted the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
You are not alone if you feel like you are banging your head on a brick wall!
If your child is feeling unhappy and low for a prolonged period of time, and you tried professional help and it didn’t work, you will be feeling that there is no other option.
Try Sarah Morris. There are 20 years of parents that will testify to her success at dealing with what nobody else can help you with. Tried, tested and approved by hundreds of families for a unique, forward thinking and understanding approach to your positive future.
You have not tried everything yet, believe us! Sarah Morris can help you and your child!