Place2Be gives evidence to the Education Select Committee

On Tuesday 8 February, during Children’s Mental Health Week 2022, Place2Be’s Chief Executive Catherine Roche presented evidence to the House of Commons Education Select Committee.

The Education Select Committee is a group of MPs from different parties. They investigate issues facing children and young people and make recommendations to the Department for Education.

In a session chaired by Robert Halfon MP in Parliament, Catherine joined Mouhssin Ismail (Principal at Newham Collegiate Sixth Form, London), and wellbeing experts Lord Gus O’Donnell and Lord Richard Layard. This session focused on mental health and wellbeing in education.

Key themes emerging from the discussion were:

• The importance of improving data and regularly measuring children's wellbeing.
• The need for Government policies on children’s mental health to be more ambitious.
• The need for access to expert mental health support in all schools.
• The need to refocus the purpose of schools from being about delivering academic success to also supporting people to be balanced human beings with social skills and emotional intelligence which are needed for the jobs of the future.

 Watch the video to see the full session.

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