An Overview of our Pastoral Support Offer at
Tutshill C of E Primary School
There are many options for pastoral support on offer at Tutshill C of E Primary School. Children that would benefit from support with any emotional, social or mental health needs they may have can be identified by staff within school and/or by their families at home. Children may take part in a range of different interventions over their time at Tutshill School. Discussions take place, between staff or between staff and families, to help decide the best provision for each individual child as needs arise or develop.
Class Based Support
Informal pastoral support takes place daily within classes. Children are encouraged to talk to their class teachers and/or teaching assistants if there is something they would like to share or chat about. Staff use an emotion coaching approach to help children work through any issues that may arise and to help children regulate their emotions. Every class has a Regulation Station (an emotional regulation toolkit) to support children when they are managing big emotions. Children are also encouraged to use a range of ‘tricks’ from our Trick Box resource to develop their emotional management and personal skills in four areas: calm, confidence, communication and creativity. https://trickbox.co.uk/
1:1 and Small Group Pastoral Support
Children take part in 1:1 or small group sessions, led by an experienced Teaching Assistant, based on their social and emotional needs. These sessions support children to develop in a range of areas, including social skills, following our golden rules and self-confidence, and usually last for around one half term. Where appropriate, children are provided with longer-term 1:1 support, for example in the case of family illness or bereavement.
ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) Sessions
An ELSA is a specialist teaching assistant, trained and regularly supervised by an Educational Psychologist. ELSA sessions can be 1:1 or in small groups and usually last 6-8 weeks. Sessions support children’s emotional development and help them to cope with life’s challenges. Some of the areas that an ELSA can provide support for are: Emotional Literacy, Self-esteem, Social Skills, Friendship issues, Relationships, Managing strong feelings, Anxiety and worries, Emotional Regulation and Growth Mindset.
https://www.elsanetwork.org/about/
https://www.elsa-support.co.uk/what-is-elsa-intervention/
TIME to Flourish
Time to Flourish is a bespoke initiative at Tutshill C of E Primary School, designed to support children with any social, emotional and mental health needs they may have. Time to Flourish sessions take place on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons and are run by two experienced Teaching Assistants, one of whom is our school ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant). Children attend in small, mixed-age groups and each block of sessions has a different focus, such as friendship & social skills, managing change or self-esteem. Sessions follow the same structure every week, based on ELSA practices and the nurture approach to pastoral support.
Young Minds Matter (YMM)
Tutshil C of E Primary School works in partnership with Young Minds Matter.
Young Minds Matter is a safe, confidential mental health support service for school-aged children. They are part of the Gloucestershire NHS Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and a national scheme of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs).
How can Young Minds Matter help?
Young Minds Matter is an early intervention team who can support children who are experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties. They can help with things like:
- Worries
- Negative thoughts
- Anxiety
- Low Mood
- Low self-esteem
- Friendship difficulties stemming from anxiety or low mood
- Low level self-harm or suicidal thoughts.
- Parent-Led CBT for anxiety and Brief Parenting.
Young Minds Matter mainly uses a type of therapy called Low-Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which helps children to think about how their thoughts (cognitions) impact on their actions (behaviours) and their feelings (emotions). There are tasks to complete between sessions to help the child practice the skills they are learning. It works best when parent and carers are able to support their child with the tasks between sessions and attend sessions (assuming the child is happy for them to do so). There are also other members of the team that provide other CBT-informed interventions.
Young Minds Matter can meet with children face-to-face in school, virtually through an online platform or at another venue such as a children’s centre. In some cases, they may suggest Parent-Led CBT as the most helpful form of support for a child. Parent-Led CBT and Brief Parenting involve a member of the YMM team meeting with the parent/carer. It assumes that the parent is the “expert” of the child and the parent/carer will have between session tasks to do with their child at home. This can be helpful for younger children, parents/carers who are looking for ways of supporting their children and for children who may find it harder to identify their own thoughts and behaviours.
Young Minds Matter does not offer counselling, and sessions are based on supporting a young person with achieving a specific goal by understanding more about their mental health and strategies they can use to achieve the goal.
How to access support
To access a referral to Young Minds Matter, please speak with your child’s teacher or the SMHL at Tutshil C of E Primary School will be happy to support you with this. If for any reason you don’t feel comfortable speaking to your child’s teacher or the SMHL about this then you can also access a referral through On Your Mind Glos (www.onyourmindglos.nhs.uk).
What else does Young Minds Matter do in our school?
Young Minds Matter also comes in to school to deliver assemblies, class workshops and small groups on a range of wellbeing topics such as Transition, Understanding Emotions and Wellbeing. A member of the team also meets with us regularly to talk about what other support is available. If you would like us to discuss your child with someone from Young Minds Matter then let us know by contacting your child’s teacher or the SMHL at Tutshill C of E Primary School
https://www.ghc.nhs.uk/our-teams-and-services/children-and-young-people/camhs/young-minds-matter/
https://www.ghc.nhs.uk/our-teams-and-services/children-and-young-people/camhs/young-minds-matter/
LEARN to Flourish
Created by our Senior Leadership Team, Learn to Flourish is a pastoral AND academic initiative, designed to embody our Teaching & Learning approach at Tutshill C of E Primary School. Learn to Flourish sessions aim to allow children to be the best learners they can be, through a focus on our school’s chosen learning behaviours (resilience, resourcefulness, reflection, evaluation, risk-taking, co-operation and creativity).
Learn to Flourish sessions are taught by a Higher-Level Teaching Assistant in small intervention groups made up of children from the same class. Children complete activities to help them better understand what the learning behaviours are as well as how to use them, before being supported to apply them in their schoolwork.