A FORMER president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists is to chair a commission looking at North-East school pupils’ mental health.

Professor Dame Sue Bailey was chosen by Schools NorthEast, which describes itself as the first and only schools-led regional network and represents 1,250 schools.

Prof Bailey is current chairman of the children and young people’s mental health coalition and a Honorary Professor of Mental Health Policy at the University of Central Lancashire.

She said: "The time has come for us all to take action and improve young people's mental health and wellbeing and prevent mental health problems developing.

“At a time when schools are potentially becoming more atomised and policy more fragmented, this group of schools has decided to share good practice and learn from collective successes and mistakes in order to improve the lives of children and young people in the North-East.”

Schools NorthEast said the commission had been launched in response to consistent concerns from headteachers’ about a decline in children’s good mental health.

It said an ‘actions focused’ report would be produced that could be adopted by all schools in the region.

Director Mike Parker said: “We could not have hoped for anyone better to chair this commission.

“Dame Sue has a global reputation in her field and her involvement in this initiative is an indication of the transformative impact we hope this commission will have on pupil wellbeing.

“While the Government has led several important pieces of work aimed at tackling growing problems in child mental health, this is the first time that schools have taken the lead in really getting to grips with the underlying causes and impact on pupils of mental ill-health at this scale.”