A new awards scheme has been launched to ensure that Jewish schools can support the wellbeing of pupils and staff.

The Wellbeing & Me scheme follows a successful project that was piloted by PaJeS, the Jewish schools network, in seven primaries and secondaries over the past three years.

The original schools that took part have received their awards and now PaJeS hopes its “whole-school” approach — which covers governors and parents as well as children and staff — will be adopted by others.

Five schools have already indicated readiness to come on board and PaJeS is looking to double the number in the coming year. They will work towards the award over the course of a year.

“We hope that by 2025 all schools will have a Wellbeing & Me award,” said Julia Alberga, PaJeS joint manager for wellbeing.

The pilot involved the recruitment of wellbeing practitioners to work in participating schools. “One of the success stories, particularly in Yavneh College and JCoSS, is that they saw the role of wellbeing practitioner as so important that they are now funding it themselves,” said Ms Alberga.

The project was monitored and evaluated by the Anna Freud Centre in London and has enabled PaJeS to develop a framework for guidance and training for schools.

Rabbi Yehuda Pearlman, principal of Broughton Jewish Cassel Fox Primary in Salford, one of the pilot schools, said,  “The project has made a huge difference to the lives of so many children and been instrumental in helping to develop our school culture.”

Jessica Overlander-Kaye, wellbeing practitioner in JCoSS, will also be working for PaJeS to jointly manage the initiative.

As well as training staff, the scheme offers a curriculum from the youngest onwards. It helps schools use resources like the Think Equal programme based on picture books in the early years and to partner with specialists in the field such as Heads Up Kids.

While there is a common framework, PaJeS knows that “the culture in each school is unique and we have to work with that,” she said. “We are very flexible in order to make sure that we are doing things right for each school.”

Ms Alberga said the importance of children’s mental health emerged in particular during the pandemic. “Parents began to realise it was an issue and we recognised that parents need to be educated.”

Parental sessions proved so popular that 500 signed up. A recent session looked at how to address children’s anxieties about the conflict in Ukraine, while a forthcoming one will discuss how to talk to them about the cost of living crisis.