Whole School & College Approach
Mental health support in schools and colleges works best when it's built into how a setting operates, not delivered as an add-on. This site brings together the research, tools, and resources developed to help educational settings and Mental Health Support Teams implement and evaluate their WSCA work.
This programme of work is undertaken by researchers at the University of Sussex in partnership with Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex, Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust BEAMS Research Clinic, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Kent Surrey Sussex, and Charlie Waller Trust.
What is WSCA?
A whole school and college approach (WSCA) to mental health and wellbeing is a co-ordinated, setting-wide model for promoting emotional wellbeing, identifying emotional and mental health difficulties early, and providing appropriate support to those that need it.
The WSCA spans multiple components including curriculum, an environment that promotes respect and values diversity, student voice, staff development, identifying those in need, leadership, parental engagement, and targeted support and referral. (Public Health England, 2021)
Why it matters
The 2025 Spending Review committed to expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) to 100% of schools and colleges in England by 2029/30, a target reinforced in the government's 10 Year Health Plan. As of 2025, MHSTs are already operational in settings covering more than half the pupil population. That expansion is welcome, but how do schools, colleges, and MHSTs know whether their whole school approach is actually working?
Until recently, most settings had no systematic way of evaluating their WSCA as a whole. Our programme of work exists to address that gap, developing tools, resources, and guidance that help schools, colleges, and MHSTs understand what good looks like and track their progress over time.
Our programme of work began with a Best Practice Review examining how MHSTs were supporting schools to implement a WSCA. That review identified a consistent gap: most settings were measuring individual interventions, but very few had any systematic way of tracking the WSCA as a whole. That finding shaped everything that followed.
WSCA Measurement Toolkit
Two self-assessment tools, the ISAT and OSAT, giving schools, colleges, and MHSTs a practical way to evaluate their WSCA implementation and outcomes.
Governor & Trustee Resources
Resources co-designed with governors to help governing bodies ask the right questions, understand what good WSCA implementation looks like, and fulfil their oversight responsibilities.
Go to Governor ResourcesUseful Resources
Policy documents, published research, and practitioner resources from across the sector, brought together so you don't have to go looking across multiple sources.
Browse Resources