ELSA (Emotional, Literacy, Support, Assistance is a carefully designed program that supports pupils with their emotional literacy.
At our school, support for mental health can also be accessed through our ELSA lead Miss Beresford is a fully trained Emotional Literacy Support Assistant. ELSA is an initiative developed and supported by educational psychologists, who apply their professional knowledge of children’s social and emotional development to areas of need experienced by pupils.
An ELSA is a warm and caring person who wants to help your child feel happy in school and to reach their potential educationally. Their aim is to remove the barriers to learning and to have happy children in school and at home.
There will always be children and young people in school facing life challenges that detract from their ability to engage with learning, and some will require greater support to increase their emotional literacy than others. When our children find themselves struggling and encounter difficulties with their emotional health our ELSA, Miss Beresford, will be there to listen, provide additional TLC and support. To do this she will plan and deliver programmes of support and these can be delivered on an individual basis, but sometimes small group work is more appropriate, especially in the areas of social and friendship skills. ELSA sessions take place in our very own Tranquillity room which provides a calm, safe space for the child to feel supported and nurtured.
Miss Beresford runs bespoke interventions during the afternoon of the school day. These interventions include support for bereavement, anxiety, confidence building, friendship issues, anger management, relaxation, conflict and self esteem. Miss Beresford works on a 1:1 basis in the beautiful, calming space called the Tranquillity Room.
Parental Help
Recently we held an anxiety workshop for parents & carers led by Sarah Lees from the ESHAW team. The workshop had some theory & research but was mainly practical problem solving, sharing idea’s/strategies and resources to help parents & carers feel more empowered in a relaxed and informal way.
We received the positive feedback from the workshop;
A lovely informal workshop with lots of information and was nice to hear others in the same situation.
Amazing workshop, really helpful.
Very good and informative.
I found the workshop very informative and helpful. I am already putting in practice the techniques that I learned.
I found the workshop really useful and enjoyed being around people who understood what I was going through, would love to do another session
It was a good knowledge gathering session with practical solutions on handling anxiety. I enjoyed it.
I found this so helpful. Also listening to others feeling the same and going through similar situations was a weight lifted that I wasn’t the only one feeling the way I was.
A really useful and insightful session. Some very useful information. I would love more.
Very useful and informative session, well led in a laid back environment. I think all parents could benefit from attending.