Greenshaw High School will lead the first wave of schools in a new “trailblazer” pilot which aims to reduce rates of self-harm in children and young people across Sutton.

The secondary school, in Grennell Road, will be among “eight to 10” others involved in the initiative when it's launched, a council scrutiny committee meeting heard.

Council officers hope the new project will reduce the incidence rate of self-harm in children and young people by 20 per cent over the next three years.

It comes as figures show Sutton has “historically” had higher levels of children presenting for hospital admissions with self-harm compared with neighbouring boroughs.

Dr Jeffrey Croucher, clinical lead for Sutton CCG, said: “This is all about reducing self-harm in children and young people in Sutton. We've already heard that there's a high incidence of this and what we hope to do over the next three years is to reduce that incidence by 20 per cent.

“There's been some project work over the last year in order to make sure we get this trailblazer [project] in the right direction for our children and young people.

“We're trying to build emotional resilience in our young children, supporting the teachers, support for ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder] and ASD [autism spectrum disorder] children, and support for the parents.”

Sutton CCG successfully bid for a mental health support team, with each one expected to assist an approximate population of 8,000 children and young people.

The workers located to Sutton will be undertaking their training with Health Education England, delivered at Kings College London, before the pilot goes live in the autumn.

Worcester Park Cllr Tom Drummond asked how officers arrived at a 20 per cent benchmark for reducing rates of self-harm in children and young people.

Dr Croucher added: “This is the best outcome measure that we have, which is how our children present. It's not necessarily the best benchmark that we have.

“We don't want to just get the tip of the iceberg, we want to actually go to the majority at an earlier stage of their difficulties with their illness(es).”

The project forms part of a national initiative launched by the Government’s Departments of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Education (DfE).

Sutton was announced as one of 25 mental health “trailblazers” in England which will rollout new mental health services to 500,000 people in the country.

The new initiative was discussed at the council's scrutiny committee meeting on February 6.