We hope you had a lovely break and are feeling relaxed and ready for the new term. During half term, we mailed your school a copy of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) advice and guidance on supporting your school staff.

The DCSF brought together a team of experts, including representatives from Teacher Support Network, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), National Employers' Organisation for School Teachers (NEOST) and Local Government Employers (LGE), in order to put together the booklet ‘Common mental health problems: Supporting school staff by taking positive action'.

We hope that you have received this guidance and use it to help you consider how you can take positive action by implementing the advice and highlighting the relevant sections to others within your school community, including your governing body. If you would like to an electronic version this is available on the teachernet website.

Further support and information can also be found on each of the supporting organisations' websites.

Acting on the advice within this document will benefit not only the health and wellbeing of your staff but also the educational experience of the children and young people in your school. Please take the time to read this important guidance and take positive action to help and support colleagues suffering from common mental health problems.

You might also find the following factsheets from our InfoCentre useful:

• Spotting the signs of a mental health problem
• Mental health in the workplace
• Common mental health problems: Supporting school staff by taking positive action