The enthusiasm regarding the school as a place for mental health promotion is powered by a large body of research demonstrating the links between mental health and well-being, academic success and future life opportunities. Despite on-going commitment to mental well-being in the UK, statistics suggest mental health issues are increasing among children and young people. This small-scale qualitative-exploratory study, undertaken in two primary schools in North Wales, reports on how school practitioners perceive, promote and support the mental health and well-being of pupils. The paper highlights a reluctance by practitioners to address mental health topics due to fear of stigma and a desire to protect children. Issues linked to funding, skills and training, together with over-stretched specialist agencies, are making it difficult for school practitioners to support pupils. There is a pressing need for appropriate training opportunities in order for practitioners to be knowledgeable and to feel confident to discuss mental health with children and young people. Schools have a significant role in supporting children's mental well-being and reducing the stigma attached to mental illness but only if this important topic is not regarded as an 'elephant in the room.'

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Memorials as a form of public history allow us to chart the complex interactions and negotiations between officially endorsed historical narratives, public memorials, privately sponsored memorials in public spaces and new histories. As Ludmilla Jordanova reminds us, ‘the state… lies at the heart of public history’. And this is evident in the public process of memorialisation. At one level, the state endorses certain narratives within which communities and organisations need to operate if they are to be officially part of the national story and its regional and local variants. Ultimate endorsement for memorials includes listings on heritage registers. Controls over the erection of memorials vary from official policies to process for the issue of permits for their construction in public places or their removal. The state, however, is not monolithic. Permissible pasts evolve over time given shifts in power and social and cultural change. This involves both ‘retrospective commemoration’ and ‘participatory memorialisation’. The presence and power of the past in peoples’ lives, too, means in practice that memorial landscapes will reflect, in truly democratic societies, the values, experiences and dominant concerns of its citizens.

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Although considerable attention has been given to issues impacting on the educational experiences of Gypsy/Traveller learners in the U.K., most of the literature is oriented towards ethnicity rather than gender. This paper illuminates the experiences of young Gypsy/Traveller women who are engaging with secondary education, and functioning in a dual cultural framework, in a time of increased gender equality. The intersectionality of culture, class and religion, frequently conflict with the notions of gender equality and education, requiring young women to make difficult choices. It is suggested there is an urgent need to problematize and deconstruct stereotypes typically held about Gypsy/Traveller girls, as not all young women feel disengaged, restricted, excluded and in conflict. While some young women, as is their right, wish to conform to cultural-gendered norms, this study has revealed some strong, resilient women who critically challenge values and norms within their community, which negate their right to a full education, to bring about positive change.