Guidance on promoting the mental wellbeing of children in primary education using whole school approaches and targeted activities

NICE was asked by the Department of Health (DH) in August 2006 to develop guidance for schools aimed at promoting good mental health among children.

All registered stakeholders for the NICE public health intervention guidance on Mental Wellbeing of Children are invited to comment on the draft summary of evidence to inform the development of the guidance.

The guidance will focus specifically on the promotion of child mental wellbeing in primary education. The two scopes covering: a) whole school approaches and b) targeted/indicated activities are available from the NICE website under Key Documents.

It is aimed at teachers, school support staff and school governors. It is also aimed at others working with - or responsible for - children and young people. This includes professionals with a public health remit working within the NHS, local authorities (in particular, school and children's advisory services) and the wider public, private, voluntary and community sectors.

This is a synopsis of the evidence collated by NICE so far. This will be used by the Institute's public health intervention advisory committee (PHIAC) to develop its recommendations. This synopsis comprises the executive summaries of the reviews of the evidence of effectiveness and cost effectiveness.

The full reviews and economic appraisal can be found under 'Consultation Documents'. Any material submitted by stakeholders during this consultation will be assessed for its relevance using NICE's standard methods, as set out in the 'Methods for development of NICE public health guidance' available on the NICE website. Relevant material will be included in a further report to PHIAC.

The draft guidance on the promoting the mental wellbeing of children in primary education using whole school approaches and targeted activities will be issued for consultation in August 2007.

The consultation on this evidence runs for 4 weeks from 13th July until 10th August 2007.

Please provide all responses to this consultation on this synopsis of evidence using the Stakeholder Comments Form (ensuring all relevant fields are completed, including your organisation's name) and forwarding this, along with any additional evidence you are submitting, by 5pm on Friday 10th August 2007 at the very latest to the following email address: mentalhealthandyoungpeople@nice.org.uk