Social and Emotional Learning

Thrive^® promotes children’s and young people’s positive mental health by helping adults know how to be and what to do in response to their differing and sometimes distressed behaviour.

The Thrive Approach® is appropriate for anyone working with children and young people - such as in education (early years settings through to primary schools, secondary schools, special schools and pupil referral units), social care, healthcare, local authorities and community groups, as well as for parents and carers.

Based on established neuroscience, attachment theory and child development, the Thrive Approach provides training and an online profiling and action-planning tool to equip adults with the knowledge, insights and resources needed to develop the relationships that help children and young people to flourish and learn.

For the past few years, we have employed Sam (a trained dog handler) and our lovely dog Trixie.

Trixie helps to break down the barriers to successful communication which allows meaningful therapy to ensue. Pupils who embark upon the therapy are identified by staff at the school.

The process involves Sam taking the pupil around the school grounds for a walk in the fresh air, accompanied by Trixie. Careful tracking and monitoring of the programme has highlighted an increased level of confidence amongst pupils with a history of low self esteem; improved attendance for pupils involved in the project and an increased capacity in managing emotions particularly anger.

ELSAs are Emotional Literacy Support Assistants.

They are teaching assistants who have had special training from educational psychologists to support the emotional development of children and young people in school.

ELSAs have regular professional supervision from educational psychologists to help them in their work.

What is play therapy?

Play therapy is a form of therapy used primarily for children. That’s because children may not be able to process their own emotions or articulate problems to parents or other adults.

While it may look like an ordinary playtime, play therapy can be much more than that.

A trained therapist can use playtime to observe and gain insights into a child’s problems. The therapist can then help the child explore emotions and deal with unresolved trauma. Through play, children can learn new coping mechanisms and how to redirect inappropriate behaviors.

Play therapy is practiced by a variety of licensed mental health professionals, like psychologists and psychiatrists. It’s also practiced by behavioral and occupational therapists, physical therapists, and social workers.

In addition, the Association for Play Therapy offers specialized training programs and advanced credentials for licensed mental health professionals, school counselors, and school psychologists.

Benefits of play therapy

According to the professional organization Play Therapy International, up to 71 percent of children referred to play therapy may experience positive change.

While some children might start off with some hesitation, trust in the therapist tends to grow. As they become more comfortable and their bond strengthens, the child may become more creative or more verbal in their play.

Some of the potential benefits of play therapy are:

• taking more responsibility for certain behaviors

• developing coping strategies and creative problem-solving skills

• self-respect

• empathy and respect for others

• alleviation of anxiety

• learning to fully experience and express feelings

• stronger social skills

• stronger family relationships

Play therapy can also encourage use of language or improve fine and gross motor skills.

If your child has a diagnosed mental or physical illness, play therapy doesn’t replace medications or any other necessary treatments. Play therapy can be used alone or alongside other therapies.

We are introducing Roots of Empathy lessons for some of our children;

Roots of Empathy mission is to build caring, peaceful and civil societies through the development of empathy in children and adults

. • The focus of Roots of Empathy in the long term is to build the capacity of the next generation for responsible citizenship and responsive parenting

. • In the short term, Roots of Empathy focuses on raising levels of empathy, resulting in more respectful and caring relationships and reduced levels of bullying and aggression.

​

What is involved?

Roots of Empathy uses the Baby as “Teacher”

At the heart of the program are a neighbourhood infant and parent who visit the classroom nine times over the school year. A trained Roots of Empathy Instructor coaches students to observe the baby’s development and to label the baby’s feelings and intentions. In this experiential learning, the baby is the “Teacher” and a lever that the Instructor uses to help children to identify and reflect on their own feelings and the feelings of others. Emotional Literacy/Perspective-Taking This “Emotional Literacy” taught in the program lays the foundation for more safe and caring classrooms, where children are the “Changers.” They are more competent in understanding their own feelings and the feelings of others (empathy), and are therefore less likely to physically, psychologically and emotionally hurt each other through bullying and other emotional cruelties. The cognitive aspect of empathy is perspective-taking and the affective aspect is emotion. Roots of Empathy educates both the mind and the heart.

What's the Buzz? is a unique sixteen-lesson social skills enrichment programme designed to explicitly teach children how to think and relate to others in social situations. Some children, for all manner of reasons, struggle to make friends and fit in socially.

Self-awareness and self-esteem is an essential prerequisite to developing social skills and so that is why we run Talkabout sessions at school. This resources creates the foundation of the Talkabout heirachy, where self-awareness comes before non-verbal skills and non-verbal comes before verbal, with assertiveness coming last

he negative impact of parental imprisonment upon children and young people is being increasingly well documented

The findings are accommodated within Welsh Government policy and procedure, and the emerging Adverse Childhood Experiences agenda.

At any one time, it is estimated that some 200,000 children across the UK have reduced life chances, and are at a greater risk of entering the criminal justice system themselves. The Big Lottery-funded Invisible Walls Accord Project aims to ensure that children affected by parental imprisonment are identified for receipt of support to reduce the short- and long-term impact of such adverse experiences.

Working closely with children, young people, parents, schools, community support and the prison estate across south Wales, the Invisible Walls Accord Service Toolkit has been developed to:

• increase the confidence of teaching and support staff to recognise and support families affected by parental imprisonment

• provide resources for enabling effective support via a whole-school approach, to promote citizenship and the creation of an environment where differences are embraced and stigma reduced

• provide schools with the knowledge and tools to ensure that children, young people and families are recognised and effectively engaged in that Team Around the Family approach envisaged by Welsh Government in the implementation of its policy, procedure and guidance.

Children need to feel comfortable to be able to share a worry or concern in a variety of ways to support as required and minimise the worry. As a school dedicated to the emotional health and wellbeing of our children we always want them to be able to share their thoughts and feelings as they need to and feel comfortable doing so. Some children may feel more at ease writing down their worry or indicating that they may need to speak to their teacher or a key adult. All actions help to create a positive and supportive, safe environment for our children.

Every classroom has a ‘Cornell Y Cwtch’ - A ‘Hug Corner’ which is a well resourced space to help learners regulate their emotions and be able to calm down and relax as needed.

When we are hurt we may need a plaster, when we dysregulated we may need to get our thinking brains back on line. We can do this by sorting objects, investigating objects that tickle our curiosity (PACE) and using soft feather to paint our faces with imaginary paint.

Social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL) is a comprehensive, whole-school approach to promoting the social and emotional skills that underpin effective learning, positive behaviour, regular attendance, staff effectiveness and the emotional health and well-being of all who learn and work in schools.