Warwick Academy has been shortlisted for an international award after carrying out a survey on mental health on the island.

The school is one of eight in the running for the Community Engagement Initiative of the Year prize — one of 13 categories in the Times Educational Supplement’s International Schools Awards.

Pupils carried out a “comprehensive” national health survey and managed to gather more than 2,700 responses from students in other schools.

Jane Vickers, the school’s director of development, said: “This equates to 76 per cent of the target population of adolescents enrolled in private and public schools.

“This level of participation was excellent thanks to a collaborative approach and the participation rate for a national mental health survey greatly exceeded international benchmarks that have a far smaller percentage of the population participate.”

The research project started in September 2022 and examined the level of commonplace anxiety and depression symptoms in young people, as well as their attitudes towards seeking mental help and the resources available.

The team has given a summary of the results to the Department of Health and the Department of Education.

Ms Vickers said that individuals and organisations in the community could now access data that would inform best practices and policy with regards to mental health. The results have been used to identify at-risk groups that could most benefit from future interventions aimed at supporting adolescents.

She added: “Most importantly, the adolescents themselves benefited from engaging in our initiative. Adolescents on the island often do not know where or how to seek help as information on mental health services.

“At the end of our survey, every student was provided a copy of our mental health resource sheet that compiled a list of organisations that support young people on the island. Reports from multiple school counsellors said they were glad to have the chance to speak with these students as a number of them may otherwise have slipped through the cracks and not received help.

“Our initiative engaged all of Bermuda. Not just the parents, students and teachers at our school, not even only those from other schools, but the entire country. Fifteen schools, four government departments, third-sector organisations, dozens of health practitioners and countless individuals were engaged in the initiative. It was a wonderful collaborative project and brought everyone in this field together.”

The project was spearheaded by Dan Cavanagh, a psychology teacher at the school.

Mr Cavanagh said “It is exciting to be shortlisted for this award, which reflects the outstanding contributions that have been made by Warwick Academy teachers, parents and students.

“We have been central to positively changing attitudes towards mental health and reducing stigma on the island. We hope that being shortlisted gives us further chances to ensure that adolescent mental health is prioritised in Bermuda.”

Dave Horan, the school’s principal, added: “As a private school with a public purpose, we are very excited that this initiative, which has resonated with the Bermuda community this past year, has been recognised internationally and among many outstanding schools. Bermuda punches above its weight once again.”

This year is the first time that the highly respected TES has organised an awards ceremony for schools outside Britain, and features nominations from 36 countries.

A TES spokeswoman said: “The awards showcase the best of the global education community and highlight their amazing achievements.

“The shortlist demonstrates some incredible achievements across the sector and showcases the best that international schools delivering either the British Curriculum or International Baccalaureate have to offer across the world.”

The overall winners will be announced on April 25.