Developing Well

Our goal

Our goal is for every 15-year-old to have hope and aspiration.

To do this, we need to maximise the opportunities available to children and young people; ensure they feel valued and included in their communities; and address the challenges they face.

15-year-olds need to be able to get the most out of school to build hope and aspiration. There will be fewer excluded from school and a greater focus on them having good mental wellbeing.

Outside school, there need to be opportunities for young people to be involved in activities that they enjoy and that open up choices for them to reach their potential and allow them to play their part in shaping their future.

We also need to make it more achievable for all young people to get their foot on the jobs ladder with good quality jobs providing regular income.

Why this matters

Our goal was chosen by young people. This is what they told us was important to them.

In 2021 following the COVID-19 pandemic, our annual school health and wellbeing survey revealed a significant downturn in children and young people’s health and wellbeing, and particularly their emotional wellbeing.

Understanding Hope and Aspiration

In 2024, to help us understand what “hope and aspiration” means to young people, and what is important to them, we gathered stories from 134 young people across Calderdale from a diverse range of backgrounds.

Young people told us that the things that worked well for them were:

• Connection. Being able to socialise with friends, meet new people and build relationships.
• Wellbeing. Schools, colleges, youth and support groups provide safe and exciting places to go, where there is someone to speak to about wellbeing.
• Achievement. Qualifications, learn new skills, build confidence and gain experience.
• Environment. Supportive places created in young people's settings, outdoor public spaces to gather safely, the natural beauty in the area.
• Services and Activities. Supportive teachers and other adults in school, trips and fun activities.
• Respect. Being respected as young adults, have the chance to say what is important and be listened to.

They told us about their hopes for the future:

• To have a career that fulfils.
• To have great friends and relationships. For some, to start a family.
• Education, such as to finish school, go to university or get an apprenticeship.
• To gain independence, both physical (for example, have a home or car) and financial.
• Other hopes were around taking part in activities like sports, activities, like sports, relocation and personal qualities.

And they told us about the things that would help them to achieve their hopes and aspirations:

• Friends and family.
• Education, teachers and professional support workers.
• Apprenticeships and work placements.
• Professional support from support workers, therapy, the careers service and Jobcentre Plus.
• Making changes to personal habits and adopting personal qualities like working hard, being determined and self-belief.
• Improved environments, like outside spaces to sit and more flowers in parks.
• Resources, like Council funds and grants.

From these findings, some potential areas for us to take action emerged:

• Provide more support that relates to young people's transition from school to their next steps.
• Create more social and physical activity opportunities for young people. These do not always need to be formal services; but they need to be places that young people feel safe.
• Base services where young people are, where they feel safe and accepted.
• Put young people at the heart of our plans; involving them in key conversations and letting them know what happens as a result. All of what we do should be co-designed with young people.

Understanding the things that enable children and young people to have good emotional wellbeing

In 2024, Members of the CYP Scrutiny Board conducted a deep-dive review into children and young people’s emotional wellbeing in Calderdale.

The review identified three key areas that were important to young people: Connectivity, Empowerment and Access. These themes align with those identified in the "Hopes and Aspirations" work. Recommendations were made against each of these themes, as outlined below.

Recommendation 1: Connectivity: connections between partners are created and strengthened to increase awareness and understanding of the role of each. This may be achieved, for example, by colocation; by facilitating visits to partner organisations and providers such as MAST, Northpoint, schools and youth provision; and by holding regular and informal conversations with those partners and providers.

Recommendation 2: Connectivity: the development of a mechanism by which a holistic approach can be taken to identifying unmet need, and by which support can be provided from a range of partners working together, without the need for separate referrals into multiple services.

Recommendation 3: Empowerment: the creation and facilitation of face-to-face and virtual mentoring and networking opportunities for practitioners in education and youth provision who support young people 1:1 - a forum where they can share experiences and learning with their peers and receive advice from a professional as appropriate.

Recommendation 4: Empowerment: that there is greater recognition and support for trusted adults in key roles in local communities. Where appropriate, we believe that these trusted adults should be empowered to support the young people and families they work with and should remain actively involved in supporting and being a consistent and trusted presence even when specialist agencies become involved.

Recommendation 5: Access: where appropriate, services visit children and young people in familiar community-based settings, or virtually if preferred. The potential of Family Hub networks should be maximised in this regard.

Recommendation 6: Access: the development of the planned single point of contact (SPoC) should be accelerated, ensuring commitment to this from across the Council and local NHS partners

Recommendation 7: Connectivity: Calderdale Council should facilitate a conference at the start of the next academic year examining the key issues relating to children and young people. This would encourage the establishment and strengthening of networks and the exchange of ideas. Delegates should include young people leaders, elected members, those who work on the front line across schools, youth provision and Open Minds Partnership

Recommendation 8: Empowerment: Healthy Schools Award is developed to include a requirement of schools relating to inclusivity. This requirement should be developed with young people and with school leaders. We stress the importance of listening to and actively engaging with our children and young people.

Recommendation 9: Empowerment: that a strategy is developed to embed trauma-informed practice across the children, young people and families’ workforce. We recommend that all those who work with our children and young people are trained in trauma informed practice.

Recommendation 10: Access: that an outcome-based approach is taken when a child or young person asks for support. Referral criteria and thresholds should not restrict a child or young person from accessing support to meet their needs. The priority must be to focus on the individual, supporting them to achieve the outcomes they wish to achieve.

Recommendation 11: Access: that CYP Scrutiny Board investigate how children and young people who are not in formal education access support and if they are aware of how to access that support. The investigation should also consider whether the available support meets the needs of a child or young person who cannot access intervention through school. This could be combined with consideration of the work of the Early Intervention Partnership Board

Recommendation 11 was progressed by the Scrutiny Board as a further in-depth review in 2925. This review made the following recommendations:

Recommendation 1: that children who are electively home educated and, who would be eligible for free school meals if at school, can access Healthy Holidays for free. Furthermore, information on how electively home educated children can access the Healthy Holidays scheme should be better communicated to officers and families as well as being incorporated into the Local Offer.

Recommendation 2: that a report detailing how the new legislation will work in practice and how it will benefit children and young people in Calderdale is brought to the CYP Scrutiny Board as soon as possible after the legislation is announced.

Recommendation 3: that the [Openminds Partnership] pilot programme relating to EBSA is extended to other schools.

Recommendation 4: that the ongoing development of a leaflet [by the Openminds Partnership] detailing support (including how to refer) is made available to children who are not attending formal education and is completed by the end of 2025.

Recommendation 5: that the finalised leaflet should not only be available via online platforms but also proactively shared when a family are in contact with Education Welfare

Recommendation 6: that the [Open Minds] website makes clear that when a child is not in a school or childcare placement that alternative arrangements will be made for assessment. This should include embedding information on the Local Offer into the website.

Recommendation 7: that there is an urgent investigation into GP Practices charging for letters in support of applications for support from the Medical Needs Team.

Recommendation 8: that the SEN team and other relevant agencies attend these reviews as early intervention is key to cease prolonged periods of EBSA and placement breakdown.

Recommendation 9: that work with schools continues, to facilitate the Directorate receiving data around suspensions in a more timely manner or ideally in real time.

Recommendation 10: that priority is given to funding extra staff in the Education Welfare Team.

Recommendation 11: that an investigation is undertaken into current challenges and trends regarding the numbers of excluded young people and those who are home educated, in order to accurately assess and address any issues with the intention of directly improving outcomes.

Recommendation 12: that the numbers of children and young people with SEND who are either electively home educated or excluded are a standard reporting item at the SEND Strategic Partnership Board so that any trends or patterns can be identified early.

Recommendation 13: that a guide is co-produced for parents detailing what constitutes reasonable adjustments (including a definition), when they can be put in place and how parents can be assured that they are put in place. The guide should detail how to escalate concerns if reasonable adjustments are not being made. Such a guide should be included as part of the local offer.

Recommendation 14: that the Council’s own web page relating to Home Education is highlighted in any formal correspondence with parents who have chosen to educate at home. This should include any new support services from partners including family hubs and the Open Minds Partnership and clearly detail the appropriate referral processes. Furthermore, a physical copy of the information on the web page should be sent to households when a child is deregistered from formal education.

Recommendation 15: that the guide on Home Education is revised and updated and that a link to it is embedded in the Local Offer.

The recommendations made by each review were endorsed by the CYP Scrutiny Board and later discussed by Cabinet. Work to deliver on them had been progressed by colleagues in Public Health, CYP Services and the Calderdale Cares Integrated Care Board (ICB) Place Team.

For more details, see:

• Children and Young People's Scrutiny Board - 10th April 2024.
• Children and Young People's Scrutiny Board - 3rd September 2025.

How we know we are making progress

Progress towards our goal is measured through two key indicators in the school health and wellbeing survey:

• Increased percentage of year 10 students in Calderdale who feel happy with what may happen to them in the future.
• A smaller percentage of year 10 students in Calderdale with low life satisfaction.

The results of the 2025 schools' health and wellbeing survey show:

• A significant increase in the percentage of year 10 students who feel happy with what may happen to them in the future compared to the baseline (55% in 2025, compared to 47% in 2021).
• A significant decrease in the percentage of year 10 students with low life satisfaction compared to the baseline (26% in 2025, compared to 28% in 2021).

What we know about children and young people's health and wellbeing

Calderdale's annual school health and wellbeing survey has been running for 13 years for secondary schools and 11 years for primary schools, providing a rich and valuable insight into the lives of children and young people in Calderdale.

All local mainstream secondary schools, and over 90% of primary schools take part, and every year we hear from over 9,000 children and young people. The survey helps us to understand their behaviours, experiences, and perceptions around general health, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, emotional wellbeing, risk-taking behaviours and safety.

The latest results are available on the Calderdale JSNA website. Broadly, they reveal that

Since 2024, we have used the school health and wellbeing survey to find out about secondary school students’ hopes and aspirations.

We can see from the results that, according to these indicators, young people in marginalised groups are less likely to have hope and aspiration compared to their peers.

In the below table, red shading reflects a position that is statistically significantly worse than the average; amber is similar; and green is better.

Image

Acronym	Short for
SEND	Specialist Educational Needs and Disabilities.
CLA	Children Looked After.
LGBT	Lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans.

For more about the Calderdale School Health and Wellbeing Survey Key Finding Report 2024, visit: Public Health data (Data Works).

What we are doing

School health and wellbeing offer

Our school health and wellbeing programme has operational oversight from the School Health and Wellbeing Partnership Steering Group. The programme itself has a number of different strands which support us in delivering our ambition for young people. Examples of this work include:

• Engagement activity including the annual survey and regular work with school staff and students to identify key areas for action such as menstrual health, risk-taking behaviours, inclusive environments, physical activity.
• Peer- and professional-learning and support opportunities for school staff to ensure that they are able to support students, through the delivery of an annual conference, health and wellbeing, DSL and SENCO network meetings, and multi-professional school support networks.
• Healthy Schools Award and forthcoming Healthy Early Years Award programmes, to celebrate and support good practice in a whole-school approach to health and wellbeing.
• School-based Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) who can provide 1:1 clinical support, whole school and group work, assemblies, creative wellbeing courses, staff training, and parent/carer workshops.
• Education and intervention from specialist services around substance use and sexual health

Targeted support

They can access a range of targeted support, should they need it.

Examples of the breadth of this support are:

• Branching Out

  Support young people aged 10-21, to make informed choices about drug, alcohol and tobacco use. Referrals can be made for support and mentoring by those worried about their own or someone else's drug and/or alcohol use.

• Public Health Young People’s Service (PHYPS)

  Can complete a holistic health assessment with children and young people, considering their physical, social and emotional health and development needs. They then work in partnership with families, schools, social care and other health professionals to support.

• Bikeability 

  Cycle training courses range from learning the basics of cycling, to developing skills ready for a journey on the road and moving on to more experienced riders covering bike maintenance, route planning and riding on busier roads.

• Sexual Health Service

  Provides information about sexual health, pregnancy and more, with a number of sexual health clinics around Calderdale.

• Invictus Wellbeing

  Offer free one-to-one mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people aged 5 to 17 through their BREW project.

• Healthy Minds

  Time Out project gives young people aged 7-19 access to a range of free activities such as arts and crafts, sports and outdoors or singing and drama. The project also runs mental health education workshops in local primary and secondary schools to help raise awareness and de-stigmatise topics relating to emotional wellbeing.

• Noah’s Ark

  Integrated Wellbeing Service can offer a range of support from counselling, walking groups, cooking groups, money/budget advice and access to grants and carpets. They also offer a small number of sessions each year for Key Stage 2 children (Years 5 and 6), through their Therapeutic Interventions in Schools (THIS) programme.

• Kooth

  Offer out-of-hours online support service for children and young people.

Current transformation activity

The work of the Developing Well Partnership Board aims to create the conditions for young people in Calderdale to have hope and aspiration by maximising opportunities for connection; by ensuring that young people feel empowered; and by ensuring that young people can access additional support when they need it. Examples of current activity include:

• Development of a model of integrated support for children and young people

  This work includes the creation of an integrated front door - a single telephone number and online contact for - for young people and their families to access advice, guidance, low-level health and wellbeing support, and access to other services where indicted. This new approach – accessible online and over the phone - will form part of the Family Hubs offer and will work alongside the existing Multiagency Safeguarding Team (MAST) as part of the government’s Families First Partnership model for Social Care. A half-termly multiagency support surgery for primary school colleagues provides an opportunity for case-discussion, advice and guidance, and peer learning in supporting pupils with health and wellbeing or SEND need in the classroom.

• Enhancing and maximising the potential of locality networks for children, young people and families

  Calderdale's family support and outreach work to a locality footprint as part of the Family Hub offer, supporting children from 0 to 19 and their families. Strengthening community-based support for older children and young people will see the Public Health Young People’s Service (formerly School Nursing Service) and school Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) working to the same locality footprint to enable greater join-up between the services supporting children and young people in each locality. This approach to working will create stronger connections between formal support services and the community organisations providing opportunities and activities that may benefit young people’s health and wellbeing.

Supporting schools to create an environment which is inclusive and meets the expressed needs of all students: Mainstream Inclusion Calderdale (MIC) is coproduced guidance to outline the provision and strategies that should be made available for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities (SEND) within mainstream school settings. It is hoped that this will lead to: increased teacher confidence in supporting children with SEND, improved parental confidence in mainstream schools, reduced suspensions and exclusions, reduction in requests for EHCPs, and resources distributed more effectively

The guidance will accompany a new criterion within the Healthy Schools Award, around creating a school environment which feels inclusive to all students, and which fosters a sense of belonging in school. This is currently in development with young people.

Also in development are a local Creating Inclusive Schools Framework and associated pledge being co-designed with young people, with the aim of supporting schools to ensure that every student feels that they feel they belong within their school community. Adherence to the framework will, in due course, be a requirement of the Calderdale Healthy Schools Award, reflecting the importance of a whole-school approach. This work will be further supported by the embedding of trauma-informed approaches, through training and guidance for colleagues across schools.

Refreshing the Post-16 Learning, Employment and Skills Strategy: The original Calderdale Learning, Employment and Skills Strategy was completed in 2023, and since then there have been changes in local demographics and the labour market, as well as proposed fundamental national changes to the National Careers Service and Jobcentre Plus. Locally, the percentage of young people aged 16-18 who are not in education, employment or training has stabilised since the 2023 Strategy, but there has been a significant increase in youth unemployment in 18-24-year-olds. Key actions outlined in the 2025 refresh of the strategy include:

• Arrangements to implement locally, the Government's "Get Britain Working" White Paper and specifically to develop programmes which support young people, often with health/mental health barriers to employment, into employment.
• Efforts to diversify the post 16 pathways to employability support/paid employment for young people with Education, Health and Care Plans

Health and Social Care Transitions: A local system-wide young people aged 16-25s transition strategy and framework are in development. These will draw on best practice, legislation and national guidance to create a “go to” guide of what is important in enabling young people to have good transitions to adult health and social care services. Transition to adult health and social care is the gradual process of moving a young person from child-focused services to adult-focused health and social care support systems as they approach legal adulthood. The strategy will be presented to the Calderdale Cares Partnership Board in November, ahead of an anticipated January 2026 launch.

Engaging with children and young people

Calderdale has a strong youth voice and youth involvement offer to ensure that the things we do work for young people, and particularly for those who are most vulnerable. Co-design underpins all of our work, so that we know the things we’re doing are the things that young people want and need. Calderdale-level results from the school health and wellbeing are routinely shared with partners to inform their own work.