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More than 90 Nottingham children being supported by specialist school mental health team

By Lauren Monaghan, Junior Local Democracy Reporter

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A new scheme helping more than 90 Nottingham children with mental health problems so serious they are missing school has shown promising results in its first five months.

The Mental Health Improving Attendance Team (MIAT), part of Nottingham City Council, has been working with children in primary and secondary schools who have missed classes for 15 days or more.

It focuses on children still unable to get back to school after other more established methods of support have been exhausted.

A total of 91 children have either been through the service or are still being supported.

MIAT specialists work on building motivation, connection and trust with the affected children to reintroduce them steadily.

The programme has been shown to all head teachers across the city’s schools.

The scheme’s first review is based on 19 weeks worth of data, which shows 91 total cases with 79 currently open and 12 closed.

Of the 12 closed cases in the first 19 weeks, around seven of the children have returned to school.

The most impacted year group is children in year 10, with 22 cases, followed by 18 cases for those in year nine,  15 cases for year 11s and 13 cases for those in year eight.

Nottingham City Council’s Schools Forum will meet on Tuesday (June 24) to discuss the programme’s progress.

Council reports show feedback from a young person who has worked with the MIAT.

It reads: “I have liked working with you (MIAT) because you make me feel comfortable, and not just do loads of worksheets. We talk about things to help me. This has helped me go back into school, when I didn’t think I’d ever be able to.”

Some of the other forms of support involve MIAT-provided emotional literacy sessions to help children express their feelings, alternative services allowing young people to access education two or three days a week, and remote lessons.

If schools identify a child who has been absent for 15 days or more – or is at risk of this – due to poor mental health, they can complete a referral form to send to the council.

The programme’s first update will be discussed further in next week’s meeting.