How will the school support my child’s emotional and social development?

We want all our children to feel safe and secure within our school as we believe this is the key to learning and making progress. The most important thing is for our children to know they will be listened to and have a voice.

For children with additional social, emotional or mental health concerns we have Teaching Assistants who have skills in this area who may work with individuals or small groups of children. This may be around developing the children’s social interaction skills, increasing their self-esteem or teaching them anger management strategies. These sessions take place in response to children’s needs and are timetabled into the week and usually last for a period of up to half a term. Parents are informed of these interventions and may also request that their child be involved.

In addition Teaching Assistants may also spend time with children who arrive in school with a concern, or who are upset about something that has happened.

Children can have access to a qualified counsellor and play therapist with the consent of the parents or guardians.

For children who we feel have more complex needs, or require a level of support that we are not able to provide in school, we can refer to CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Team). Parents would be involved in the referral process if this were to be the case