ELSA provision at St Mary's

Together we can make a difference

ELSA is a nationally recognised mark of certification for school staff who have undergone specific training with an Educational Psychologist, leading them to begin practising as an accredited Emotional Literacy Support Assistant.

Here at St Mary's our qualified ELSA is Mrs. Smith, an experienced TA who works across the school to deliver ELSA and SEND support. She has been trained by Dr. Dawn Bradley CPsychol through Summit Psychology Services and receives termly top-up training to maintain her qualified practitioner status.

Our ELSA programme is delivered as a series of bespoke sessions designed to be enjoyable, creative and engaging - tailored completely to the needs of individual children and young people. We offer support with the understanding of and development of coping skills for:

• Emotional awareness
• Anger management
• Self-esteem
• Social and communication skills
• Friendship skills
• Loss and bereavement

Children will generally participate in one hour of ELSA a week focused on their current area of need and are likely to craft, play games, read, write, draw, chat, role-play and puppet-show their way to a greater understanding of themselves as multi-faceted,  wonderfully resilient individuals with the capacity to explore and control their responses to challenges and adversity.

Work is generally undertaken one-to-one, but small group work is used to support the development of social skills.

Here at St. Mary's we are lucky enough to have a beautiful brand new dedicated ELSA space - our Nurture Room is a modern, calm and quiet oasis away from the main school building and with expansive views of greenery, trees and our school's pet chickens! This creates a truly tranquil environment in which children and young people can feel safe and whole-heartedly listened to, away from any other outside distraction.

As a school we recognise that children have the best chance to thrive and learn more effectively when their emotional needs are met; offering ELSA intervention is an intrinsic part of our dedication to help all of our pupils believe and achieve.

To learn more about our ELSA provision or to ask any further questions, please get in touch via the school office.

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. ... And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matthew 22:37-39)

Because of our ELSA, St Mary's children are: 

We are a fully certified ELSA accredited school 

ELSA