A programme to support the emotional wellbeing and mental health of Cornish children has been received an £8.9 million lottery cash boost.

The HeadStart Kernow project has been given the cash from the Big Lottery Fund’s HeadStart programme to continue its work in supporting the county's children over the next five years, with Cornwall one of just six areas to get the funding.

Andrew Wallis, the council’s lead member for children and young people, said the funding would support projects in schools and communities.

He said: “This is a fantastic achievement which will help us to continue to deliver pro-active and preventive emotional health support for young people across Cornwall.

The HeadStart programme was set up in 2014 with £500,000 lottery funding, and is led by a partnership including Cornwall Council, Devon and Cornwall Police, NHS Kernow, Cornwall Foundation Trust, Cornwall Association of Secondary Headteachers (CASH), Cornwall Association of Primary Headteachers, (CAPH) and the voluntary and community sector.

It focuses on a child’s time and experiences at school, their ability to access the services they need, their home life and relationships and interaction with family members, using approaches including peer mentoring, mental health ‘first aid’ training, online portals and special resilience lessons.

Over the past two years the programme has worked with 61 primary schools, ten secondary schools and one special school across Cornwall, helping to support around 10,000 young people aged between 10 and 16 years. Specialist training has been provided to more than 100 practitioners, both in schools and in the voluntary and community sectors.

Richard Head, programme lead for HeadStart Kernow, said: “National research has shown that many young people report being unable to sleep because of stress or worry, with some saying they feel worried or sad at least once a week.

“Young people have played a key role in helping to develop our existing programme and we look forward to working together to improve support and intervention in school, in the community and at home which will enable children, particularly those who are more vulnerable, to deal with the challenges of growing up and support a healthy life into adulthood.”

Educational psychologist Ellie Baker said: “I have been very moved by the connections between school and community in this programme.

“The linking up that is beginning to be seen between agencies, the common language now being seen to support children with such need is so exciting and gives hope, to practitioners, to the adults around those children, to family members and most, most importantly to the children themselves”.

Simeon Royale, deputy head of Humphry Davy Secondary School, said: “The HeadStart- Thrive Workforce Training we received was stunning, the reaction was superb.

“It has been the most positive piece of staff training we have done… the staff here are absolutely behind the approach.”