At Pembroke Dock Community School, we have members of staff who have been trained by Educational Psychologists to plan and deliver programmes of support to pupils who are experiencing temporary or longer term additional emotional needs.

ELSA work is delivered on an individual basis, but sometimes small group work is more appropriate, especially when the focus is on social and friendship skills.

Sessions are fun and we use a range of activities including games, role-play with puppets, activity sheets or arts and craft. ELSA sessions take place in our very own 'ELSA room' which provides a calm, safe space for the child to feel supported and nurtured.

In our ELSA sessions we aim to provide support for a wide range of emotional needs including:

• Recognising and Managing Emotions

• Self-Esteem

• Social Skills

• Friendship Skills/ Friendship Issues/ Peer problems

• Anger Management

• Loss and Bereavement

• Low Self-Esteem/ Confidence

• Relationships

• Family Separation

• Anxiety

• Behaviour

How does ELSA work?

Children are usually referred for ELSA support by their class teacher, parents/guardians, our ALNCo or our Family Support Officers Miss Jill and Miss Frances. We then meet to discuss the referrals and to identify and prioritise which children require ELSA support.

Our programme of ELSA support runs for 6-8 sessions which last between 30 and 40 minutes. The sessions are not intended to fix children’s problems but are a means of supporting a child through a situation and a way of encouraging them to begin to open up and talk and to learn strategies to deal with their emotions.

An ELSA will use counselling skills, including active listening, problem clarification and open questions in order to enable a child to talk about their thoughts and feelings.

We also offer family ELSA sessions to support pupils and their families together, these sessions take place in our community room.

What the children say about their ELSA sessions!      

On completion of their ELSA programmes, we ask the children to reflect on their experiences. Here are some of the lovely comments we have received:

"ELSA has helped me to make more friends."

"ELSA has helped me a lot. It’s helped me to say my feelings not hide them. It’s helped me know what to do rather than hiding my worries.”

"I feel more confident to talk about my feelings.”

"ELSA has made me feel happy. I can talk about my feelings.”

"I’ve enjoyed ELSA! I can talk about how I’m feeling. I like the worry jar. I empty all the old ones then I don’t feel worried anymore!