Kidsmatter, a national initiative aimed at improving the mental health and wellbeing of children in Australian primary schools, has been praised by an independent evaluation released on Tuesday.

Kidsmatter is a joint project formed by a number of groups and institutions including the Australian Psychological Society (APS), the Australian Government and national depression initiative Beyondblue with a goal of educating parents, children and teachers about mental health and improving the mental health and wellbeing of primary school students.

The independent evaluation, carried out by Flinders University of South Australia, showed that the program improved the knowledge and skills of primary school teachers and had a very positive impact on children’s social and emotional wellbeing.

APS Executive Director Professor Lyn Littlefield believes the report highlights the great success of the program. “What the evaluation shows is that not only does the program improve the mental health outcomes for those children most at risk, it also has flow on effects to the whole school community,” she said. “It is an investment with an ongoing return as it changes the culture of the school and benefits the long term health and wellbeing of children.”

On Monday the Australian Government pledged an additional $12.2 million over the next three years to Kidsmatter, and announced an additional $6.5 million will fund a pilot program called Kidsmatter Early Childhood Initiative, a similar program targeting early childhood services such as daycare centres. Kidsmatter Early Childhood Initiative is currently accepting applications to pilot the program at their website.

The full evaluation of Kidsmatter will be available in November at the Kidsmatter Website.

Writer Tristan Boyd, editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.