Straightforward “old-school” attitudes could be the key to improving children’s mental health, a leading London private school has told parents.
Staff at the £23,000-a-year Alleyn’s School in Dulwich said the mental health crisis cannot be solely blamed on social media and mobile phones, and emphasised that basics including getting enough sleep and not being overloaded with extra-curricular activities can help with wellbeing.
Experts have warned of an escalating crisis among young people, amid the pressures of online life and Covid lockdowns. New data suggests increasing numbers of young people are ending up in A&E departments seeking help.
Gavin English, deputy head pastoral at Alleyn’s, said: “While it may be easy to blame the machinations of meta and mobile phones for all of the ills that seem to be increasingly overtaking our younger generations, and they absolutely play their part, there is in my experience far more going on than that.”
