Mental Health & Wellbeing

At Stapeley Broad Lane CE Primary School, we are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our whole school community (children, staff, parents and carers). We recognise how important mental health and emotional wellbeing are to our lives, in just the same way as physical health, to flourish. At our school, we know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, we may need additional emotional support. Children’s mental health is a crucial factor in their overall wellbeing and can affect their learning and achievement. Our view is that positive mental health is everybody’s responsibility and that we all have a role to play.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Support Team

Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead: Mrs Stonier (Mental Health Lead)

ELSA (Emotional Language Support Assistants): Mrs Herbert-Jackson & Mrs Wright

Staff Wellbeing Leads: Mrs Holden and Mrs Ailsby

Our Children

Promoting pupil wellbeing is more than just helping children to achieve academically. A child’s wellbeing could be the key to their current and future happiness. With this in mind, we are determined to support our children in every way possible, to ensure that they are provided with the best start and are fully equipped with the tools to manage their thoughts, emotions and wellbeing.

We feel the social and emotional skills, knowledge and behaviours that children learn in our school can help them build resilience and set the patterns for managing their mental health throughout their lives.

Influenced by our Christian values and our curriculum, we provide a supportive and caring environment where each individual is valued and is driven by an ethos of respect and kindness. We have high expectations for all of our children and know they all have the potential to do well in all aspects of life.

We have trained staff and a range of resources and activities available within school to support our children, we also work closely with a variety of external services to provide further support where and when necessary.

We are guided by faith, nurturing hearts and minds.

‘As you go, step by step I will open up the way before you’ Proverbs 4:12

What is ELSA?

ELSAs help children to learn to understand their emotions and respect the feelings of those around them. They provide the time and space for pupils to think about their situation and how they manage them. They cover the following areas:

Self-esteem

Emotions

Attachment issues

Loss and bereavement

Social skills

Friendship issues

Conflict

Anger management

Anxiety

Relationships

Behaviour

Relaxation techniques

Lego therapy

There will always be children and young people in schools facing life challenges that detract from their ability to engage with learning. Some will require greater support to increase their emotional literacy than others. ELSA is an initiative developed and supported by Educational Psychologists. It recognises that children learn better and are happier in school if their emotional needs are also addressed.

How does ELSA work?

Children are usually referred for ELSA support by their class teacher, Senior Leaders or Wellbeing Lead. With the programme aims in mind, we then plan support sessions to help the child develop new skills and coping strategies that allow them to manage social and emotional demands more effectively.

Each session lasts from 30 - 45 minutes once a week.

Supporting - not fixing

ELSAs are there to provide emotional support.

We aim to establish a warm, respectful relationship with a child and to provide a reflective space where they can share their thoughts and feelings.

It needs to be appreciated that change cannot necessarily be achieved rapidly and is dependent upon the context and complexity of the presenting issues. For children with complex or long-term needs, it is unrealistic to expect ELSA intervention to resolve all their difficulties, however, support will be designed to target specific aspects of a child's need. Training and development of ELSAs is an ongoing process and wisdom is required to recognise when issues are beyond the level of expertise that could reasonably be expected of an ELSA. The Educational Psychologist who works with our school would be able to offer advice on the suitability or nature of ELSA involvement in complex case.

Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Herbert-Jackson are our Emotional Literacy Support Assistants. The majority of ELSA work is delivered on an individual basis but sometimes small group work is more appropriate, especially in the areas of social and friendship skills. Sessions are fun, they use a range of activities such as games, role-play, ELSA support resources, and arts and crafts. ELSA sessions take place in our very own 'ELSA space' which provides a calm, safe and private space for children to feel supported and nurtured. Sometimes just having a little special time with an ELSA can make children feel valued and listened to and that in itself may be instrumental in turning a small problem around.

If you have any concerns about your child, please do not hesitate to phone or email the class teacher.