Saturday 24 October 2026 | 10am to 1pm (UK) | Online

This year, over 140 councillors, candidates and community leaders have pledged their support for emotionally healthy schools. Among them are the UK's first Green Mayor, and their Deputy Mayor who has been part of this journey from the start. Behind those names is a wider community of young people, teachers, parents, therapists, school staff and grassroots groups who all want the same thing: schools that take emotional lives seriously: both the children and the school staff that work with them.

The Inaugural Gathering is the first time we are coming together as that community.

This matters beyond the classroom. The cost of school exclusions, for instance, reaches well past the child, into families, neighbourhoods, and the wider community. No community can truly thrive when a child is deprived of their education.

This will not be a conference of keynote speeches. It will be a working session. Over three hours we will hear from young people about what they want from school; and listen to the views of parents, carers, teachers, and school staff about building emotionally healthy spaces for the whole school community. We will work collaboratively in small groups and begin to shape the principles and practices that will guide this campaign over the coming year.

As organisers, we will not be arriving with a finished model to hand down. We will be working with you to build one together, from the ground up, with everyone who has a stake in school life: teachers and the systems they work in; parents and carers; young people themselves; local authority leaders; and mental health professionals. This gathering is for anyone who believes in a child's right to learn in an emotionally safe environment.

Join us. Whether you have signed the pledge or not, whether you work in schools or live alongside them, you are welcome here. Come ready to listen and ready to speak.

Organised by the Therapy and Social Change Network.

To find out more about the Emotionally Healthy Schools campaign — including the research behind it, the pledge itself, and how to get involved — visit [https://therapyandsocialchange.net/healthy-schools](https://therapyandsocialchange.net/healthy-schools).

Description supplied by the event organiser.