At Manby Lodge we offer ELSA Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) intervention for children to help them with experiences and situations that they find difficult.
What is ELSA?
There will always be children 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.
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, we use a range of activities such as: games, role-play with puppets or therapeutic activities such as mindfulness or arts and craft.
The ELSA intervention was originally developed within Southampton, then Hampshire, by Sheila Burton, Educational Psychologist. It was designed to build the capacity of schools to support the emotional needs of their pupils from within their own resources. This is achieved by training teaching assistants to develop and deliver individualised support programmes to meet the emotional needs of children and teenagers in their care. It recognises that children learn better and are happier in school if their emotional needs are also addressed. This intervention is now widely implemented by educational psychologists across Britain.
ELSAs are provided with on-going professional supervision from psychologists to help them to maintain high quality work. This ensures safe practice for ELSAs and pupils alike.
ELSA sessions take place in our very own ‘ELSA room’ which provides a calm, safe space for the child to feel supported and nurtured. We are able to support many children through our ELSA intervention.
Our ELSA Teaching Assistant is Mrs Lisa Wallace
In ELSA we aim to provide support for a wide range of emotional needs (for example):
- Loss and bereavement
- Self-esteem
- Emotional regulation
- Friendship issues
- Relationships
- Behaviour
- Anxiety
- Bullying
- Conflict
Some of the things we can do to support your child:
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- Supporting with social skills
- Help with anger management
- Guide relaxation techniques
Download this leaflet for more information
Please speak to your child’s class teacher in the first instance, if you think that they would benefit from ELSA support.
Mrs L Wallace
