Supporting Students with Mental Health Needs and CAMHS

Inclusive Online Learning

EDClass explicitly acknowledges the parity of importance between mental health and academic achievement. The EDClass online classroom supports students who are experiencing mental health difficulties, including issues such as anxiety or the impacts of trauma.

The core of our approach revolves around fostering a safe, supportive, and inclusive online learning environment for all users, where nurture and resilience to online learning is delivered prior to any learning so any individual needs are engaged from the outset.

The role of our UK-qualified teachers (which are all based from our office in Dinnington, Sheffield) extends beyond academic instruction; they are expected to build trust and establish rapport with students, thereby creating a secure space where students feel comfortable engaging in open communication about their needs, academic or otherwise.

EDClass also lists a resilience-based approach as one of its support categories, indicating an awareness of the need to support children who have been exposed to trauma or Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

Safeguarding Mechanisms Relevant to Mental Health

The platform’s comprehensive safeguarding framework is highly relevant for supporting students with mental health needs, who may be particularly vulnerable.

This includes the continuous monitoring of activity, recording of sessions, availability of Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs), and proactive welfare checks.

Alert systems, triggered by factors like student inactivity or concerning interactions detected by monitoring staff, can flag potential welfare or mental health issues requiring intervention.

Monitoring and Check-ins

A dedicated review and engagement team is described as conducting regular check-ins with students. These interactions serve to monitor not only academic progress but also emotional well-being, aiming for a proactive approach to identifying and addressing any emerging concerns. General platform monitoring also tracks student engagement and behaviour patterns, which can serve as indicators of underlying welfare issues.

Pastoral Support

The provision of live tutorial support, break out rooms for support, pastoral classrooms and the opportunities for interaction with teachers are positioned as avenues for delivering pastoral care alongside their needs. The overall support aims to be holistic, considering the student's wider needs.

Wellbeing Resources

The platform claims to provide a range of resources designed to assist students in managing stress, anxiety, and other emotional challenges, with the goal of promoting emotional resilience. The specific nature, format, or content of these resources is not detailed.

Assisting with Educational Health Care Plans (EHCP)

EDClass provides educational continuity as well as a safe and less stressful learning space.

This is valuable during waiting periods or alongside external treatment plans, especially for students with an Educational Health Care Plan. We collaborate with external agencies and all stakeholders so that the student is at the heart of everything we do.

EDClass does this through our onboarding, regular reviews and continuous wellbeing meetings before a student who has an EHCP is placed anywhere near learning. This is so our platform meets the individual learning and support needs of pupils as outlined in the sections of their EHCP.

This allows the adapting of their curriculum, offering wellness and nurture sessions, enhancing wellbeing support and offering a robust teaching, SEND and safeguarded environment.

Our goal-aligned learning plans accommodate any educational health care plan as we work in partnerships to facilitate this alignment.

Schools and MATs are requested during onboarding to provide their Schemes of Work, which EDClass then uses to help create specific learning pathways for the student and their wellbeing. SEND and any medical requirements are also taken into consideration to create a comprehensive support package that includes our nurture, wellness, safeguarding, resilience, SEND and support teams.

These teams work hand in hand with the onboarding, review, engagement teams where any individual with an EHCP has regular contact, drop in sessions and communications with.

The platform’s internal assessment processes are also designed to identify individual knowledge and skill gaps, which helps in targeting the learning journey effectively for the relevant EHCP.

EDClass & EHCPs: Integrating Personalised Online Support

EDClass provides specialised online education and alternative provision, working seamlessly with a student’s Educational Health and Care Plan.

We understand the importance of the EHCP as a blueprint for a child’s support. Our approach involves meticulously aligning our online learning strategies, SEND support, and safeguarding practices with each section of the EHCP, ensuring a personalised and effective educational experience that targets agreed outcomes.

We collaborate closely with LAs, schools, parents, and other professionals throughout this process so that a child is within the centre of every team at EDClass.

EDClass aligns online learning with the familiar sections found in an EHCP.

Section A. Views, Interests, and Aspirations: Engaging Learners on EDClass

EDClass uses the vital information in Section A to personalise the learning experience. By understanding your child's views, interests, and future aspirations, we tailor online content, engagement strategies, and reward systems on our platform. This student-centred approach enhances motivation and ensures learning goals resonate with their personal ambitions, directly supporting EHCP objectives.

Section B. Special Educational Needs (SEN): Targeted Support via EDClass

EDClass directly addresses these needs through targeted interventions within our online platform. This includes deploying specific accessibility features, utilising adaptive teaching strategies delivered by qualified teachers, and providing support from our dedicated SEND specialists and SENCOs. We map our provision directly to the needs outlined here and our teams have weekly meetings to discuss student on our EHCP watchlist.

Section C. Health Needs: Accommodating Health Requirements in Online Learning

EDClass carefully considers any health needs listed in Section C. Our flexible online learning model allows scheduling around medical appointments, therapy sessions, or periods of fatigue. We adapt activities where necessary and ensure our staff are aware of relevant health information (with consent) to provide appropriate support and understanding.

Section D. Social Care Needs: Collaborative Support and Safeguarding

For students with social care involvement (including CP, LAC, CIN), EDClass prioritises robust safeguarding and collaboration. We work closely with social workers, care workers, foster carers, key workers and relevant agencies, ensuring our online provision complements the child's care plan. Our platform's monitoring features and trained DSLs and DDSLs provide crucial oversight, with secure communication channels maintained.

Section E. Outcomes: Driving Progress Towards EHCP Goals with EDClass

The outcomes defined in Section E are central to our work. EDClass designs personalised learning pathways and sets specific, measurable internal targets aimed directly at achieving these EHCP outcomes. We focus on demonstrating tangible progress towards academic, independence, and wellbeing goals outlined in the plan.

Section F. Special Educational Provision: Delivering EHCP Requirements Online

EDClass functions as a key provider for delivering the Special Educational Provision specified in Section F. Our online platform, extensive curriculum resources, qualified teachers, SEND support team, and structured timetables are deployed to meet these requirements effectively within a virtual learning environment, often serving as DfE-accredited Alternative Provision.

Section G. Health Provision: Working Alongside External Health Support

While EDClass does not directly provide health provision our flexible online model facilitates access to it. We schedule learning around external therapy appointments (e.g., SALT, OT, CAMHS) and liaise with therapists (with consent) to ensure our educational strategies complement therapeutic goals where appropriate.

Section H. Social Care Provision: Complementing Support for CP / LAC / CIN Individuals

Similar to health provision, EDClass collaborates with and works alongside the Social Care Provision detailed in Section H, particularly crucial for Looked-After Children (LAC), Children in Need (CIN), or those with Child Protection (CP) plans. We ensure our online education delivery is sensitive to and supportive of the overall care plan and associated activities.

Section I. Advice and Information: Informing EDClass Strategies

EDClass reviews all advice and information from assessments (e.g., Educational Psychologist, SALT, OT reports) included in Section I. This expert input directly informs the development of personalised learning strategies, the deployment of platform tools, and the focus of support from our SEND team, ensuring our approach is evidence-based.

Section J. Placement: Fulfilling the Online Education Placement Role

Where EDClass is named or commissioned (e.g., by an LA or school), we fulfil this role by providing the agreed online educational programme, ensuring compliance with the EHCP requirements as the designated placement. To provide effective and safe online support, EDClass gathers additional context.

Section J. Placement: Fulfilling the Online Education Placement Role

All About the Individual: A Broader Understanding

Beyond the formal EHCP sections, we gather information that provides a richer understanding of the student's personality, background, and wider circumstances to build rapport and tailor support more effectively.

Living Arrangements: Context for Support and Safeguarding

Understanding the student's living arrangements provides essential context for tailoring communication, support, and, crucially, for assessing potential safeguarding factors relevant to home-based online learning.

Online Issues and Needs: Ensuring Digital Access and Safety

Specific to online provision, EDClass identifies any challenges related to digital literacy, internet access, equipment, risks, dangers, or online safety behaviours. This allows us to provide targeted support for navigating the platform and staying safe online.

Safeguarding Concerns: Proactive Risk Management

EDClass maintains a dedicated focus on identifying, recording, and managing any safeguarding concerns, past or present. This proactive approach, integrated with our trained DSL and DDSL team, resilience team, SEND team, Wellness team and monitoring systems, is vital for protecting vulnerable learners in an online environment. We use a structured process to track progress against the EHCP to provide a Review, Monitoring, and Measurement Framework.

Goals: Setting Actionable Targets in EDClass

We translate the broader EHCP outcomes (E) and student aspirations (A) into clear, actionable short-term and medium-term goals within the EDClass platform, agreed upon with stakeholders.

Strengths and Needs: Ongoing Assessment on EDClass

Through continuous assessment, platform analytics, and teacher observation, EDClass identifies the student's emerging strengths and monitors progress against the specific SEN (B), allowing for dynamic adjustment of support strategies.

Educational Targets: Measuring Progress Towards Outcomes

We set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound educational targets aligned directly with EHCP outcomes (E) and provision (F). Progress against these targets is rigorously tracked using platform data, assignment completion, teacher assessments, and engagement metrics, providing clear evidence for EHCP reviews.

EDClass offers a comprehensive and integrated approach to supporting students with EHCPs in an online learning environment. By meticulously aligning our provision with each section of the EHCP, gathering essential contextual information, and implementing robust monitoring and review processes, we ensure personalised, effective support that actively works towards achieving agreed outcomes and promoting student success.