Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH)
It is very important that we encourage positive Mental Health.
As a school we provide many whole school approaches for all children, which can be seen on the schools SEMH page here. We support all children to use their voices, seek support when they need it and we endeavour to give them the skills they need to succeed socially and emotionally.
However, children with additional needs often have more specific struggles with their mental health and well-being. Some children may have identified differences such as ASD or ADHD, which make social and emotional aspects of learning trickier for them. Others may have lower self-confidence and esteem or struggle to communicate their needs and wants effectively. As such may need specific support which is personalised and tailored to them.
This is where our schools Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) - Mrs Needham - comes in to her own. She is our first port of call for this type of support and she works closely and discretely with individual children, giving them a confidential space to talk about their worries and concerns and to learn and practice specific skills and strategies which can help them to manage their emotions more successfully. Children have great success with her support. Mrs Needham can support short term with specific issues that may be quickly resolved or offer longer term coaching and support as required.
Should your child need more specialist support beyond that which we can provide in school, we can refer for support from the Mental Health Support Team (MHST) and should we need to, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
If you have concerns about your child’s Social Emotional or Mental Health, please speak to their class teacher in the first instance. They will listen to your concerns and speak with Myself of Mrs Needham to create a plan to help.
Resources
Mrs Needham often teaches children grounding and breathing techniques to help them to manage anxiety. Below are a selection of resources which she may use with the children. If Mrs Needham is working directly with your child, she will send the specific strategy/resource home with them so that you can use it too.
However should you wish to try some things with your child, here are a few examples.All of these have been dowloaded for ease of use from the ELSA website and as such are not to be used commercially and must only be used in their original format. They remain the property of ELSA-Support and are copyright to them.
Words for Emotions poster – print, display and discuss the words even better if you identify how the body might feel when they feel these emotions.
Mindful Break Alphabet - Write the word at the top and then do the activities for each letter.
Mindful Minute Bookmark - use the techniques on the bookmark to calm feelings of anxiety, anger, worry and sadness.
Reasons Why I Shine - A poster wher children identfy 5 psotoves about themselves. display and refer to it to boost self worth.
Sleep Tips - A short set of techniques fro children to help manage settling to sleep.
Star Breathing - A simple breathing excercise.
Five Finger Breathing - Another simple breathing excercise which, once taught, needs no resources.
Separation Anxiety - A poster to refer to for ideas to try if your child is feeleing worried about leaving you when coming to school.