ELSA
What is ELSA?
There will always be children and young people 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. Emotional literacy is about understanding and coping with the feelings of ourselves and others. It involves developing high self-esteem and creating positive interactions with other people. Being emotionally literate helps children to focus better on their learning and has a positive impact on their general happiness and well-being.
ELSA is an initiative developed and supported by educational psychologists. It recognises that children learn better and are happier in school if their emotional needs are also addressed. ELSAs are specialist members of staff with a wealth of experience of working with children.
At East Park, we have 5 members of staff who have been trained by Educational Psychologists to plan and deliver programmes of support to pupils who are experiencing temporary or longer term additional emotional needs.
Our ELSAs (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants) are:
Miss Jones Wedgner – Primary
Mrs Pickersgill – EYFS/KS1
Mrs McGowan – KS1
Mrs Warhurst – KS2
Mrs Hoe – KS2
The majority of ELSA work is delivered on an individual basis, but sometimes-small group work is more appropriate, especially when the focus is on social and friendship skills.
Sessions are fun and we use a range of activities including games, role-play with puppets, activity sheets or arts and craft. ELSA sessions take place in our very own 'ELSA rooms’, which provides a calm, safe space for the child to feel supported and nurtured.
In our ELSA sessions, we aim to provide support for a wide range of emotional needs including:
Recognising and Managing Emotions
Self-Esteem
Social Skills
Friendship Skills/ Friendship Issues/ Peer problems
Anger Management
Loss and Bereavement
Low Self-Esteem/ Confidence
Relationships
Family Separation
Anxiety
Behaviour
How does ELSA work?
Their class teacher, our SEND Leader (Mr Burlestson) or Miss Jones-Wedgner (Safeguarding, Well-Being & Attendance Officer) usually refers children for ELSA support. We then meet to discuss the referrals and to identify and prioritise which children require ELSA support.
Our ELSA sessions are not intended to fix children’s problems but are a means of supporting a child through a situation and a way of encouraging them to begin to open up and talk and to learn strategies to deal with their emotions.
An ELSA will use counselling skills, including active listening, problem clarification and open questions in order to enable a child to talk about their thoughts and feelings. On completion of their ELSA programmes, we ask the children to reflect on their experiences.
Supporting - Not Fixing
ELSAs are not there to fix children's problems. What we can do is provide emotional support. We aim to establish a warm, respectful relationship with a pupil and to provide a reflective space where they are able to share honestly their thoughts and feelings.
It needs to be appreciated that change cannot necessarily be achieved rapidly and is dependent upon the context and complexity of the presenting issues. For children with complex or long-term needs it is unrealistic to expect ELSA intervention to resolve all their difficulties, however support will be designed to target specific aspects of a child's need.