A school in Exmouth has won a national award for its work promoting good mental health.

Littleham C of E Primary School won the School Mental Health Award from the Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools, which is part of the Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett University.

Littleham Primary School is part of the Jubilee with Pebblebed Federation run by executive headteacher Katie Gray, which includes four other C of E primary schools in Branscombe, Broadhembury, Farway, and Woodbury Salterton.

The Branscombe, Broadhembury and Farway schools also won the award.

Ruth Whiteside of the Carnegie School of Education said of Littleham Primary School: "Staff are very much aware of, and focused on, enhancing and supporting positive mental health for all.

"The school now has in place Mental Health Ambassadors which maintains the emphasis on ensuring positive mental health and well-being for all.

"The first half-term placed great importance on how to come back to school after months of disrupted schooling.

"As a consequence of the pandemic, the school decided that food hampers would be given in person, rather than online, as this allowed them to maintain regular contact with the families.

"Relationships have developed and this has had a huge impact on child-family-school communication and support.

"A full-time pastoral worker has been employed to work with the families and, again, this has supported staff to feel more confident working with and supporting those more vulnerable families."

Executive Headteacher of Littleham Primary School Katie Gray said: "COVID-19 has created real challenges for us all but there have been real concerns about mental health issues amongst children following the lockdowns.

"We had already begun work on this area before COVID-19 struck but it certainly assisted us in helping the children and their families.

"Good mental health is obviously so important in itself but if children are feeling concerned then they can't learn. If they are feeling good mentally, then they are able to take advantage of all the educational opportunities that we provide for them."

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