At Westbourne, we believe that children thrive when they feel safe, happy, valued, and supported. Promoting positive mental health and wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do, helping every child to build confidence, resilience, and strong relationships from an early age. We are committed to creating a nurturing environment where pupils feel listened to, respected, and encouraged to talk openly about their feelings, enabling them to develop the emotional skills they need to succeed both in school and beyond.

We are always looking at how we can support children's physical health and emotional wellbeing. These include:

• encouraging children to make healthy choices;
• making sure there is a full and balanced curriculum and a wide variety of extra-curricular activities;
• taking every opportunity for children to enjoy and learn outside, offsite or in other spaces such as the Hub or Forest School;
• working with other agencies and experts to develop our understanding and skills – and to help us help the children.

The emotional wellbeing of children is just as important as their physical health. Good mental health allows children and young people to develop the resilience to cope with whatever life throws at them and grow into well-rounded, healthy adults.

Other factors are also important. These include:

• feeling loved, trusted, understood, valued and safe
• being interested in life and having opportunities to enjoy themselves
• being hopeful and optimistic
• being able to learn and having opportunities to succeed
• accepting who they are and recognising what they are good at
• having a sense of belonging in their family, school and community
• feeling they have some control over their own life
• having the strength to cope when something is wrong (resilience) and the ability to solve problems.

Interventions we are able to offer at Westbourne

ELSA provision for emotional support

Emotional literacy is about understanding and coping with the feelings of ourselves and others. It involves developing high self-esteem and creating positive interactions with other people. Being emotionally literate helps children to focus better on their learning and has a positive impact on their general happiness and well-being.

ELSA is an initiative developed and supported by educational psychologists. It recognises that children learn better and are happier in school if their emotional needs are also addressed. ELSAs are specialist members of staff with a wealth of experience of working with children.

At Westbourne, we have 5 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.

Our ELSAs (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants) are:

Mrs Fulton

Mrs Mills

Mrs Tang

Mrs Emans

Mrs Beken-Barnes

The majority of 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

Children are usually referred for ELSA support by their class teacher, our SENDCo, Mrs Aves or our Family Support Worker, Mrs Mills.

Our programme of ELSA support runs for 6-8 sessions which last approximately 30 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.

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 encouraged me to make more friends."

"ELSA has helped me a lot. It’s helped me to say rather than hiding it. 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! II 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!”

Lego-Based Therapy for developing social and communication skills

Lego-Based Therapy is a fun and structured way of helping children develop important social and communication skills through cooperative play. Working in small groups, children build Lego models together while taking on different roles, such as the “builder,” “designer,” or “supplier.” This encourages them to practise skills like listening, turn-taking, sharing ideas, problem-solving and working as part of a team.

The sessions are designed to be supportive, enjoyable, and confidence-building. Because the focus is on playing and creating together, children often feel relaxed and motivated to join in. Lego-Based Therapy can be especially helpful for children who may find social interaction challenging, including some children with autism or communication difficulties, but many children benefit from the approach.

Above all, the aim is to help children build friendships, improve self-esteem and develop positive communication skills in a calm and engaging environment.

During the sessions, each child is given a specific role within the group to help encourage teamwork and communication. The roles are rotated regularly so that every child has the opportunity to practise different skills.

The Engineer reads the instructions and explains to the group which pieces are needed and how the model should be built. This role helps children practise speaking clearly and giving instructions.

The Supplier finds the correct Lego pieces and gives them to the builder. This encourages listening skills, attention, and cooperation.

The Builder follows the instructions from the engineer and uses the pieces provided by the supplier to build the model. This role supports concentration, patience, and teamwork.

Children must communicate and work together successfully in order to complete the model, helping them to develop social confidence, problem-solving skills and positive interactions with others.

Friends’ Club

Friends’ Club is a fun, welcoming group where children can come together to build friendships, enjoy engaging activities, and feel part of a supportive community. The club provides a relaxed and friendly environment where pupils can take part in games and creative activities.

This is an invitation only club and, to make it even more special, the children are encouraged to bring a friend with them each week. This helps children feel confident, meet new people, and strengthen friendships.

Friends’ Club takes place every Tuesday lunchtime and is run by Mrs Mills and Mrs Fulton.

Education Wellbeing Service

Westbourne is part of the Education Wellbeing Service and, as part of this, we have support from their practitioners (EWPs- Education Wellbeing Practitioners) who can provide 1:1 guided self-help intervention programmes for parents based around anxiety and behaviour. These interventions aim to upskill parents so they feel more confident in managing their child’s difficulties.

The Education Wellbeing Service also runs webinars and attends coffee mornings at school on various topics including anxiety, toileting, managing screen time and more. Keep a look out in the school newsletters for further information.

More information can be found here:

SWLST Mental Health Support

https://swlstg.nhs.uk/education-wellbeing-service 

Sutton Education Wellbeing Service 

https://www.cognus.org.uk/services/mental-health-support-team-mhst/

Useful Resources

The websites below provide practical support and are widely recommended for parents of primary-aged children.

YoungMinds (Parents Section)

https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/

Practical advice, parent guides, and a helpline for concerns about children’s mental health

NHS – Every Mind Matters

https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/supporting-others/childrens-mental-health/

Place2Be – Parenting Smart

https://www.place2be.org.uk/our-services/parents-and-carers/

Easy-to-follow tips and videos to help parents support children’s behaviour and wellbeing

HappyMaps

https://www.happymaps.co.uk/