Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health

What is Emotional Wellbeing / Pastoral Support?

We are proud of the Pastoral support we offer at Denton CE School. We have various staff trained in a range of Interventions including Emotional Literacy (ELSA) which can be delivered as a small group or 1:1 intervention.

Children can suffer wellbeing difficulties at many times throughout childhood, from self-esteem and belonging to bereavement and anxiety. We use a range of literature to support us including Ruby’s Worry and the Colour Monster. Encouraging children to talk and have their voice is important which we promote this in Class Worship and weekly Personal, Social, Health and Education (PSHE) sessions.

What if my child suffers with SEMH difficulties?

To begin, you and the teachers may have discussions and identify that your child is suffering with social or emotional difficulties and may put some strategies in place. From this, they would refer their concern to the SEND team. Following from this, the SEND team would then liaise with the teacher and parents to make sure the right intervention would be put in place to support the child/children involved. Assessments using a range of methods including scaling our concerns would happen before any intervention begins. This then supports with our assess-plan-do-review cycle and evaluate the success of the intervention. We can feedback on these sessions, although must respect the privacy and confidentiality which has been established through trust.

Any disclosures and Child Protection issues will be reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mrs Orme or her Deputy, Miss Hailes and dealt with as appropriately.

The Colour Monster

Children often find it hard to share their emotions, whether they can or cannot articulate how they are feeling or whether they are yet to comprehend feelings. The Colour Monster is a great stimulus beginning with a story that we use. Often, this is primarily used within our younger years to encourage children to explore their feelings through colours. We have found this approach gives children a visual to recognise their feelings and through support, guidance in managing these emotions.

Here are some visuals that you can use at home to relate the emotions to the colours as we would in school. Confused (or mixed up) is often how children may express their feelings, and through talking and sharing experiences, together, we can guide children in managing and expressing their emotions.