At Forefield Community and Infant Nursery School we ensure all children are nurtured and supported through a supportive environment so that pupils will become happy, respectful, independent and responsible members of society and develop the qualities and attributes children need to thrive as individuals, family members and members of society.
We understand that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support. We take the view that positive mental health is everyone’s business and that we have a role to play in ensuring that children know what mental health is and how to support their own and others’ mental health.
We therefore aim to develop children’s self-esteem and provide positive experiences for overcoming adversities and building resilience. We want our school to ensure that children are capable of managing times of stress and that they are supported to reach their full potential or know where to go and get help from when they need it.
We offer different levels of support dependant on the needs of the children. All pupils’ needs are met through our overall ethos and wider curriculum. We offer additional support to children who may have some short term needs and those who may have been made vulnerable through life experiences such as bereavement. There is also targeted support for children who may require interventions such as wellbeing groups or personal mentors (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants trained staff).
We have introduced children to the Forefield Five. These are 5 superheroes that individually can help you feel better both physically and mentally but together are a super team who will continually boost your health and wellbeing. These superheroes are used to support the children identify strategies that can be used to help them identify how they might help themselves and others feel better.
We are very lucky at Forefield Community Infant& Nursery School to have a ‘Rainbow Room’. Our Rainbow Room is led by our team of Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs). The Rainbow Room is a safe and special place designed to allow children to discuss feelings, friendships and family and allows us to support the learning and emotional wellbeing of all the children in our school. It is a calm, welcoming and nurturing space where children can visit if they need some time to relax, calm down or chat. Our friendly team of ELSAs will also ‘check in’ with targeted children throughout the school day, inviting them to play games or draw pictures; allowing them the opportunity to share any concerns they may have.
We are very lucky to have several trained ELSA teaching assistants within school, who develop and deliver individualised support programmes to meet the emotional needs of children in their care. We recognise that children learn better and are happier in school if their emotional needs are addressed. ELSA is an initiative developed and supported by Educational Psychologists, who apply their professional knowledge of children’s social and emotional development to areas of need experienced by pupils.
