Mrs Ahmed and Mrs Granger are our Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) trained adults. An ELSA is a specialist teaching assistant with a wealth of experience of working with children. ELSAs are trained and regularly supervised by Educational Psychologists in Bracknell Forest.
An ELSA is a warm and caring person who wants to help your child feel happy in school and wants your child to reach their potential, educationally. An ELSA’s aim is to remove the barriers to learning and to have happy children in school and at home.
Please do reach out to us (either by talking to your child’s class teacher or emailing the school office) if you think your child could benefit from support, and we will pass this on to our triage team to see if ELSA support is appropriate or if another intervention is appropriate.
These are the most frequently used type of session. Our ELSA assistants will plan each session individually for a child, based on their needs. However, the session may involve certain parts:
Emotional check-in
This is an opportunity for the child to discuss how they are feeling.
Main activity
The main activity will be planned around a learning objective. The learning objective is to help and support the child to create their own strategies to cope with individual challenges, bringing down barriers to learning. This is usually based around an ‘I can’ statement, such as ‘I can tell you about my strengths’ (a self-esteem objective). However, it can be that more sessions or other interventions are needed, depending on the need of the child.
For example, with the ‘I can tell you about my strengths’ learning objective:
Mrs Granger might encourage the child to tell her about their talents or personal characteristics such as being kind, caring, helpful or brave. The child will then make something to reinforce those strengths.
Relaxation
The child may be taught a relaxation exercise to help them get ready to go back to class.
In a group session, the first part of the session is ‘circle time’, which is where the children sit in a circle and take turns to speak and discuss their feelings and events.
Emotional check-in
This is an opportunity for the children to discuss how they are feeling.
Main activity
This is similar to the individual session, but the child will be encouraged to work with the other children. This helps with cooperation, social skills, friendship and gives a sense of belonging. A learning objective will be set for the group of children which they will all be able to answer by the end of the session.
Relaxation
The children may be taught a relaxation exercise to help them get ready to go back to class.
For more information, visit www.elsa-support.co.uk. It is also important to note that ELSA support, despite being an effective and benefical emotional support, is still considered a ‘tier 1’ or ‘low level’ intervention. There are also a number of other avenues for support in and out of school that can be explored, depending on the needs of the child.
