St Paul’s School Becomes the First Independent School to Pledge ‘Time to Change’

On Thursday 24 November, St Paul’s School became the first independent school to sign the Time to Change pledge.

By signing, St Paul’s commits to change the way the School thinks and acts about mental health in the workplace. The signing ceremony took place in the Samuel Pepys Theatre at a conference, led by the pupils, entitled ‘Resilience’ which uses the subject of sport to stimulate conversations about mental health.

Throughout the evening speakers drew on their experiences of high level sport to discuss the importance of positive psychology and seek to identify any tips which people can apply to their everyday lives.  Speakers included, Professor Patrick Callaghan, Professor of Mental Health Nursing and Head of the School of Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham; Sarah Cecil, Chartered Sports Psychologist, English Institute of Sport; Jack Green, British Athletics Olympian; and Dr Jim Golby, former Head of Research and Development in Sports and Exercise at Teesside University.

The conference was part of the School’s Harry Parsons lecture series, named after former St Paul’s pupil, Harry Parsons, who tragically took his own life while studying at Oxford University, aged just 21 years. Set up in early 2016, the lecture series seeks to raise awareness of mental health issues among pupils, parents and staff, as well offering practical advice to promote good mental health and resilience amongst pupils.

St Paul’s joins nearly 450 organisations that have signed up to the Time to Changepledge, including Eon, Ernst & Young and the Bank of England.