School Interventions
Life often throws challenges our way. Bravery isn’t about coping alone or holding things in. It’s about finding positive ways to deal with things that might be difficult, overcoming physical and mental challenges and looking after yourself.
The aim is for children and young people to develop into resilient individuals, developing confidence and a positive sense of self during their time at school.
Sensory Tent
This provides a safe space for children who are feeling overwhelmed with their current environment. Pupils are able to remove themselves from the uncomfortable situation and take some time out for themselves in the safety of the sensory tent which is equipped with sensory lights and tactile resources to produce a calming space.
Family Support Worker
Mrs Ros Eccles is available throughout the day for any child to approach and speak with regarding any uncomfortable emotions/feelings they may be experiencing.
Direct work sessions are offered to educate pupils on mental health and strategies practised to promote the young person feeling confident in dealing with their emotions healthily.
Through conversations with parents, Ros can consider multi-agency support packages should it be felt that a specific support service could be beneficial.
Worry Box
At Primet Primary we believe that children will learn best when they are free from worries. In order to support all our children who, have a worry or a concern about anything, we have installed a Worry Box in the main hall and within individual classrooms. Every child can share a worry in confidence by posting a note in one of the Worry Boxes.
The children can write down or draw their worry or wish or an adult can scribe for them. They can do this anonymously or add their name. The children then post their worry into the box. The container keeps the worries, so the child can let them go.
Lego Therapy
Lego® therapy is a social development program for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other social communication difficulties. Lego Therapy is a structured activity that helps children practise social communication and language skills within a small group. It's a fantastic and fun way to help children develop these important life skills
Nurture Afternoon Group
Nurture is a small group intervention which provides lots of opportunities for children to develop skills which they may need support with in a safe, consistent environment.
The afternoon group have dinner together at 12:00pm, this furthers the children’s language development and social skills (through conversations had at the table), as well as patience, independence (every child has a job every day!) and cooperation with others.
The afternoon group’s focus is building on children’s social skills and emotional awareness, which are skills that help children with understanding their own feelings as well as the feeling of their family, friends and teachers. We teach the children strategies they can use in the playground and classroom to develop confidence and positive friendships, and strategies they can use in order to cope with their own emotions, including anxiety, anger and feeling overwhelmed. We work hard to build up our children’s self-esteem so that they can be confident and resilient learners when in their classrooms
Mindfulness Afternoon Group
This is a drop-in group available to all pupils throughout the lunchtime period. The group is supervised by staff members and allows children some ‘time out’ in a safe environment should they be struggling emotionally for a particular reason on the day. Within the group there are mindfulness colouring resources available along with breathing exercises, meditation and ‘grounding’ activities to support children return to the present moment and in control of their emotions whilst continuing to learn practical and effective strategies to manage their emotions.
Mental Health in Schools Team - (MHST)
Primet Primary School offers a working base for an NHS Educational Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP) who will be based in school once a week to offer support and advise to individual and small groups of children.
The Education Mental Health Practitioner (EMHP) is a new professional role which delivers evidence-based early interventions for children and young people and parents/ carers in educational settings who are displaying low level emotional difficulties.
Staff Training
All members of staff including, teachers, teaching assistants, welfare staff, office staff and volunteers are trained regularly with strategies and understanding of children’s mental health.
Regular updates are also distributed to ensure that all members of staff are up to date with their knowledge and practical skills.