VLE

Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA)

At Busbridge CofE Junior School we have an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) – Mrs Maggie Ingham. Her role is to offer 25 minute sessions, once a week, usually over a period of six weeks targeting emotional support to help develop new skills or coping strategies that enable the pupil to experience greater success. These will involve drawing, talking, playing games, stories or role play. Depending on the support required, this could be one to one or in a small group. It is recognised that when we feel good we learn better and improved emotional literacy reduces unnecessary stress.

If you feel that your child would benefit from this support please contact Mrs Barker, Deputy Head & SENCO or your child’s teacher.

The ELSA’s role is to support a child’s emotional development in the following ways:

To understand, communicate and use strategies to manage and regulate emotions
- Anxiety
- Anger

Develop social skills
- Making and keeping friends, dealing with conflict
- Understanding and expressing emotions and respecting others

Improving self-esteem including self-respect, developing a growth mind set and resilience
Supporting a child through grief, loss or a family crisis