Social, Emotional and Mental Health Provision
At Stranton Primary School we promote an inclusive, restorative environment in which each individual is valued and respected. We have an ethos of setting high expectations of attainment for all pupils with consistently applied support, tailored to each individual child where needed. We recognise that all children and young people need a solid foundation of positive mental health to benefit fully from all of the opportunities that are available to them. We want our children to be resilient and mentally healthy, so that they can succeed.
At times, anyone may need additional support to maintain or develop good mental health. The mental health of children and young people, adults in schools, parents and carers and the wider whole school community will impact on all areas of a child's development, learning, achievement and experiences. As a staff team, we understand and recognise the indicators that may signify that a child needs additional support with their SEMH needs and we respond accordingly.
Where a child needs targeted SEMH intervention, we respond quickly and reactively to meet their needs, using a graduated approach to inform a clear cycle of support. Assessment is used to establish a clear analysis of the child’s needs, a plan is set out as to how the child will be supported, the action needed to provide that support will be planned and regular reviews will be held to assess the effectiveness of the provision and lead to changes where necessary.
Teaching SEMH skills has the potential to improve academic outcomes, keeps children safe and improves the mental well-being of pupils and future generations. Meeting the SEMH health needs of our pupils is of upmost importance to us at Stranton Primary School and as a consequence we have a bespoke SEMH curriculum.
Stranton Forest School
The forest school course is designed to address some of the social and emotional difficulties children may have in the classroom and support their holistic development.
Throughout the six-week course, the children take part in various activities including forest games, shelter building, practical skills, forest crafts and learning about plants, animals and the environment. These are designed to:
- Improve listening skills
- Improve their ability to follow instructions
- Develop team work
- Develop problem solving skills
- Manage risk taking
- Give children the freedom to explore
Please select the links below to view our forest school curriculum.
Autumn 1 Forest School Curriculum
Autumn 2 Forest School Curriculum
Mindfulness
The aim of mindfulness is to slow down our experience of everyday activities allowing us to...
- Notice our experiences - Something we have lost over many years of auto-pilot.
- Focus on the detail of what we are doing moment by moment (zooming in).
- Be aware of thoughts, perceptions, feelings, physical sensations that are linked to our mood and mind states.
Why we teach mindfulness...
- To teach children and ourselves how to use our mind in a more positive, accepting manner developing a greater appreciation for day-to-day life.
- Focusing children's attention can help bring their wandering minds back to where they want to focus, improving concentration and the ability to cope with ‘distraction’
- To enable children to become aware of the habits that prevail in our inner lives, and govern our day to day behaviour and reactions.
- To help children to manage their thoughts and feelings and mental health.
- To help increase our children's activity in the area of the brain associated with positive emotion producing positive outcomes on wellbeing, reducing anxiety and distress as well as improving behavior in school.
- To help children accept the ups and downs of life, let go old habits and reactions, and find new more helpful reactions.
Lego Therapy
LEGO Based Therapy is a collaborative, play based social skills programme designed to improve social competence in children with social difficulties. The intervention was originally created for use with children with autism, although at Stranton Primary School, children with related conditions take part in the sessions as as well as children without any identified difficulties.
Therapeutic Storywriting
Therapeutic Storywriting encourages pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) to process difficult feelings through storywriting. The programme takes place each week and lasts for approximately 10 weeks.
Click here to view the structure of these sessions.
Me Time
Me time is programme that encourages pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) to process difficult feelings through fun, child initiated activities. The 'Me Time' programme runs over a term and takes place twice a week.
Click here to view the structure of these sessions.
We Eat Elephants
We Eat Elephants is a programme created to help children recognise, understand and communicate their emotions as well as developing tools to make changes to how they feel. There is a focus on identifying problems and overcoming them by breaking things down into smaller, manageable chunks.
The programme can be targeted towards children who have difficulty understanding and managing their feelings. For example, children who are anxious or withdrawn, or those children who may be starting to show some lower-level ‘acting out’ behaviours in class. It uses stories to help them understand their feelings and would therefore be appropriate for children who may be uncomfortable thinking directly about their own feelings, thoughts or behaviours.
Friends
Friends is a programme created to assist children and young people to build resilience, confidence and self-esteem and to learn important skills and techniques to cope with feelings of worry, fear and low mood; with a main focus around reducing anxiety.
Friends is particularly focused on helping children who are experiencing difficulties with worry and anxiety, developing tools to help them cope with stressful and challenging situations.
Emotional Literacy Support
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.
We are lucky enough to have two qualified Emotional Literacy Support Assistants at Stranton Primary School. They 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. The majority of ELSA work is delivered in small groups, sessions are fun and use use a range of activities such as: games, role-play with puppets or arts and craft. ELSA sessions take place in our very own 'Zen Den' which provides a calm, safe space for the child to feel supported and nurtured.
In ELSA we aim to provide support for a wide range of emotional needs:
- Recognising emotions
- Self-esteem
- Social skills
- Friendship skills
- Anger management
- Loss and bereavement