At Georgetown learner and staff Wellbeing is at the centre of all that we do. We use a range of tools and approaches to support our learners. At Georgetown we use Jigsaw as a whole school resource to teach children and young people emotional literacy, social- and lifelong skills, RSE/RSHE and resilience in an age-appropriate manner. We are a THRIVE school, we offer ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant), PALS (Playing And Learning to Socialise) for Reception age learners and Drawing and Talking Therapy. Class Teachers, our Wellbeing Lead (Mrs L Rees) and our ALNCo (Mrs S Powell) work alongside each other to look at what programme would be suited to each individual learner where an intervention may be needed. We support parent/carers
Jigsaw
Jigsaw supports teachers to champion children and young people. A whole-school approach programme with weekly lesson plans. Jigsaw provides all teaching resources, helping teachers confidently teach a well-being curriculum. Jigsaw PSHE perfectly connects the pieces of Personal, Social, Health and Wellbeing Education. The programme equips learners for happier and healthier lives, giving them agency to make their way through the world.
THRIVE
What is Thrive?
Thrive offers a trauma-informed, whole school or setting approach to improving the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.
All our staff have had Thrive training at Georgetown and we offer this as a whole school approach. Thrive offers primary settings practical strategies and skills to improve emotional wellbeing and social wellbeing; increasing attendance, reducing anxiety and enhance learning. This can involve creating dedicated Thrive spaces, engaging learners in art activities that reduce stress and developing an underlying focus on the wellbeing of learners, staff and parents.
All learners undergo a Thrive assessment, individual and whole class targets are established. Class Teachers focus on whole class targets and Teaching Assistants focus on individual and group targets.
ELSA
What is ELSA?
In schools, ELSA stands for Emotional Literacy Support Assistant. ELSA support is designed to help schools support the emotional needs of their learners.
ELSA acknowledges that children and young people learn best when they feel happier and their emotional needs are being addressed.
The initiative was developed and supported by educational psychologists who used knowledge of how children develop socially and emotionally and apply this knowledge to the needs of learners.
The role title of ELSA may only be taken by someone who:
Has attended a full ELSA training course.
Regularly attends supervision groups led by educational psychologists.
Currently, are developing bespoke programmes to support the emotional needs of children in their school.
ELSAs are trained to plan and deliver programmes of support to pupils in their school who may be experiencing temporary or long term additional emotional needs. Sessions for pupils usually run on a 6 week programme.
A lot of work that ELSAs do will be on an individual basis with one child, however, there are cases where group sessions may be appropriate such as when working on social skills and friendship skills.
ELSAs will receive support and supervision from educational psychologists, but will still report to a line manager within their school.
What can ELSAs help with?
There are a lot of emotional skills that ELSA can help with, including:
Social Skills
Bereavement
Social Situations
Therapeutic Stories
Anger Management
Self-esteem
Real-life problem-solving skills
Friendship
PALS
What is PALS?
The PALS intervention is led by a member of staff. The programme focuses on the development of social skills by teaching children constructive ways to solve problems in social situations using stories (acted out by puppets), media clips, the use of role play activities and songs. Skills can be further developed at school by other staff members and at home with the learners parents/carers.
The programme consists of 10 sessions each focusing on a particular social skill:
Greeting Others
Taking Turns (Talking and Listening)
Taking Turns at Play
Sharing
Asking for Help
Identifying Feelings
Empathy
Overcoming Fear and Anxiety
Managing Frustration
Calming Down and Speaking Up
The programme builds from more basic social skills to more complex skills.
Drawing and Talking Therapy
What is Drawing and Talking?
Drawing and Talking is a safe and gentle therapeutic intervention for children and young people that need an alternative to talk-based therapy.
Providing them with a creative way to process emotions.
What do sessions look like?
In Drawing and Talking sessions, the learner is given the tools and freedom to express what is happening in their subconscious mind, without any interruptions. Allowing emotions to be expressed and processed naturally. This gives opportunities to process deep rooted emotions – that the child may not want to talk about.