Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health

What is Emotional Wellbeing / Pastoral Support?

We are proud of the Pastoral support we offer at Harlaxton CE School. We have various members of staff trained in a range of interventions including Emotional Literacy (ELSA) which can be delivered as a small group or 1:1 intervention.

Children can suffer wellbeing difficulties at many times throughout childhood, from self-esteem and belonging to bereavement and anxiety. We use a range of literature to support us including Ruby’s Worry and the Colour Monster. Encouraging children to talk and have their voice is important which we promote this in Collective Worship and weekly Personal, Social, Health and Education (PSHE) sessions.

We have seen a significant increase in need for pastoral support over the past two years especially during the pandemic. With this in mind, we have increased the amount of time we have on offer to our children to reduce the time waiting for support ensuring children get seen as quickly as possible. We also try to follow a proactive approach, where children may approach barriers due to emotional needs or family change.

This year we have introduced an ELSA support to be available at lunch times for children to either share concerns or worries but also learn and gain skills and strategies in dealing with and managing their wellbeing. So far, we have seen children seeking support for friendship and managing emotions (anger) when playing with others.

What if my child suffers with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) difficulties?

To begin, you and the teachers may have discussions and identify that your child is suffering with social or emotional difficulties and may put some strategies in place, from visual cues, daily check-ins or a buddy system. From this, they may refer their concern to the SEND team for further support. The SEND team would then liaise with the teacher and/or parents to make sure the right intervention would be put in place to support the child/children involved. Assessments using a range of methods including scaling our concerns would happen before any intervention begins. This then supports with our assess-plan-do-review cycle and evaluate the success of the intervention. We can feedback on these sessions, although must respect the privacy and confidentiality which has been established through trust.

Any disclosures or Child Protection issues will be reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mrs Edwards or her Deputy, Mrs Whitworth and managed appropriately.

The Colour Monster

Children often find it hard to share their emotions, whether they can or cannot articulate how they are feeling or whether they are yet to comprehend feelings. The Colour Monster is a great stimulus beginning with a story that we use. Often, this is primarily used within our younger years to encourage children to explore their feelings through colours. We have found this approach gives children a visual to recognise their feelings and through support, guidance in managing these emotions.

What Pastoral interventions do we offer?

In School Interventions

Lego Therapy
Drawing and Talking
Friends for Life (Fun Friends)

-Small group or whole class

-Special Friends (for children with ASD)

Grief and Loss
Bereavement Support
Time to Talk
Socially Speaking

Emotional Literacy Support (ELSA)

- 1:1 or small group

Supporting :

Relationships Self-esteem

Confidence Trust

Dealing with Emotions Social Interaction

Friendship Anxieties Self-belonging

Mindset Empathy

Anger Management

What if my child needs more?

There are additional sources and agencies that can help. Below are a list that you can contact for addition support.

Should you need further support on SEMH and the Pastoral support we offer, please read our Information Report and Local Offer found here

Information Report and Local Offer

Literature to support

There are many stories available to support mental health. There are online and paper-based stories. Here are some books that we share with the children in school. If you would like to know any more about stories and widening children's understanding to mental health through stories, speak with your child's class teacher, the SEND team or follow this link: https://childmind.org/article/best-childrens-books-about-mental-health/