ELSA

What is ELSA?

There will always be a child or young person who is facing challenges that can impact their learning. Some will require additional support with their emotional literacy than others. Elsa is an initiative developed and supported by educational psychologists, who apply their professional knowledge of children’s social and emotional development to areas experienced by children. This recognises that children learn better and are happier in school if their emotional needs are met first.

Miss Morgan is our Emotional Literacy Support Assistant. She has received training and supervision from Educational Psychologists to plan and deliver interventions to support childrens emotional

needs. The majority of ELSA sessions will be delivered 1:1, but sometimes small group work is more appropriate.

These sessions are designed to be fun, using a range of activities and resources such as: games, role-play, the use of puppets and even crafts. ELSA sessions usually take place in the Bungalow (Buddies), which provides a separate, calm, safe space for the child to feel supported.

ELSA aims to support a wide range of emotional needs, such as:

· Recognise emotions

· Mindfulness and finding a calm state

· Social skills

· Self-esteem

· Friendship skills

· Anxiety

· Anger management

· Loss and bereavement

Remember, ELSAs are not there to fix children’s problems, they are there to provide emotional support.

“It needs to be appreciated that change cannot necessarily be achieved rapidly and is dependent upon the context and complexity of the presenting issues. For children with complex or long-term needs it is unrealistic to expect the ELSA intervention to resolve all their difficulties, however support will be designed to target specific aspects of a child’s need. The training and development of ELSAs is an ongoing process and wisdom is required to recognise when issues are beyond the level of expertise that could be expected of an ELSA. The Educational Psychologist that works with out school would be able to offer advice on the suitability of ELSA involvement.” – Sheila Burton, creator of ELSA.