Wellbeing
Pastoral Support
At West Monkton, we have a specialist pastoral team that work throughout the whole school. Helping with wellbeing, emotional regulation and understanding how our emotions impact our behaviour and decisions.
Our pastoral team is based in 'the nest', a calm space that looks very different to all the classrooms in the school.
Based more on a home from home style, the nest has sofa's, cushions, many toys and our wonderful fish tank. The nest is a place for calm time, emotional interventions and a safe space for children to talk to the team and work through any concerns they may have.
The pastoral team is closely linked with the safeguarding and SENCO team to ensure a seamless link with all concerns that may arise.
Emotional Literacy Support Assistant
An Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) is a trained, school based learning support assistant. Their role is to support the emotional wellbeing of pupils. They are trained by a team of educational psychologists and receive ongoing group supervision.
Who ELSAs work with
ELSAs work with children and young people either individually or in small groups and deliver bespoke interventions tailored to the presenting situation or need. The role of the ELSA is to develop children and young people's:
- emotional literacy
- positive mental health
- social skills
- emotional wellbeing
We are a link school with Somerset Mental Health Support team.
This means that we are able to refer children for low level CBT, working with a 1:1 practitioner or the parents of a child that is struggling with worry's, big emotions or many other mental health concerns.
The team also come in to school to offer class based group sessions, parent learning opportunities and courses.
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