The health and wellbeing of the children, staff and families of Exton & Greetham CE Primary School is of great importance to us. We endeavour to work with families to ensure that all of the children are happy and healthy when they attend our school.

 

Our open door policy at the beginning of the day allows parents and carers to approach the school with any query or concern, or to celebrate things that have happened at home. It also allows parents to tell us if things are happening at home that may unsettle a child. Similarly, at the end of the school day, staff come out to meet parents with the children so that messages can be passed on to parents about worries or things that have gone particularly well. 

 

Children are encouraged to talk to an adult if they have any concerns at school. Teachers, teaching assistants, office staff, the headteacher, and all other staff at the school are freely available for the children to talk to and share worries. The children can chose to talk to the member of staff they feel most comfortable talking to. The children all know the story 'A Huge Bag of Worries' and that sharing worries is a good thing to do. Children know that it is always good to talk.

 

ELSA - Emotional Literacy Support Assistant

 

In recent years there has been an increased recognition of the impact of social and emotional aspects of learning on academic attainment in school. The ELSA project was designed to build the capacity of schools to support the emotional needs of their children from within their own resources. It recognises that children learn better and are happier in school if their emotional needs are also addressed. 

 

We are very lucky to have both Mrs Wingrove and Mrs Honan trained as ELSAs. An ELSA is a Teaching Assistant who has been trained by an Educational Psychologist to support children with their emotional and social difficulties. Generally this means helping them to increase their vocabulary of 'feelings' words, supporting them to recognise and label their feelings, gathering a set of strategies that they can use to manage these feelings, and providing them with a comfortable and safe environment to explore these feelings. 

 

Children who struggle emotional and socially can often vent their feelings and frustrations inappropriately. Working with the ELSA is not a 'fix' or a 'cure', but is to help a child with their understanding and strategies. It may not resolve all of the child's difficulties, but will hopefully make them more manageable. 

 

Working with the class teacher, the ELSA undertakes a planned intervention to help a child. ELSA sessions might be used for:

• self esteem
• anger management
• social skills
• friendship skills
• sadness
• anxiety
• building resilience
• loss and bereavement
• coping strategies
• bullying issues

 

Children are referred to the ELSA by class teachers following discussions with the child and parents. Time is then allocated where it seems most appropriate. Mrs Wingrove and Mrs Honan work with individuals and small groups in our library in a dedicated space for ELSA support. 

Mental Health Support Team

We are very fortunate to be part of a new initiative working with a number of schools across Rutland to help children with their mental health and emotional wellbeing.

 

The teams can help children and young people work through struggles with low mood, anxiety and worry. They can also assist them in putting strategies in place to help with these issues and support with practical steps to get better sleep and work on panic management. The team will also work with the school to promote better mental health for everyone as part of a whole school approach.

 

The practitioners use evidence-based approaches to help children. They can either work with them on a one-to-one bases or in groups, using approaches such as:

Low intensity cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)

Sensory strategies

Mindfulness

Practical idea

Creative problem solving

 

What is low intensity CBT?

CBT involves the practitioner working with a child to focus on their problem and break it down into smaller parts. The practitioner will help them develop a toolkit of practical strategies and coping mechanisms so that they can deal with difficult situations when they arise. It is a talking therapy, based up the understand that their thoughts, feelings and physical sensation sand actions are interconnected.

 

Offering low intensity support means that we are able to offer help to more children and young people more quickly, and offer early intervention before problems build up.