Acquire the knowledge to safely deal with chemicals and bodily fluids

Following successful, very well evaluated, ELSA courses in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 Wandsworth SCPS is pleased to be offering a new ELSA course starting in January 2021.

The ELSA course is for teaching assistants, learning mentors and teachers with an interest in developing greater understanding of how to support children’s emotional well-being.

The ELSA programme would be charged at £650 per trainee, however, with funding from the DfE Wellbeing Return to Education initiative the next ELSA programme is being offered at a reduced cost of £300. To be fair to all this means only one subsidised place per school.

All children and young people should be nurtured in accordance with their individual needs. There will always be children and young people in schools facing life challenges that detract from their ability to cope in school and engage with learning, and some will require greater support to increase their emotional literacy and readiness to learn than others. Never has this need been more so than with the 2020 COVID 19 pandemic.

ELSAs are Emotional Literacy Support Assistants working in schools to nurture the emotional well-being of children. They help children recognise, understand and manage their emotions with the aim of developing their emotional resilience so that they are happier and more able to cope and learn at school. ELSA's plan and deliver individual (and small group) support programmes under the supervision of an educational psychologist and their school-based line manager.

The ELSA initiative was originally developed in Hampshire by Sheila Burton, an Educational Psychologist. It was designed to build the capacity of schools to support the emotional needs of their pupils from within their own resources. There is now a network of Local Authorities and schools across England using ELSA. Information on the ELSA programme and how it is being used elsewhere can be found on the ELSA network website: http://www.elsanetwork.org

ELSA in Wandsworth is an initiative developed and managed by Helen Upton, a Senior Educational Psychologist and Ye Kuang a Trainee EP, who apply their psychological knowledge of childrens’ social and emotional development in their work in schools.

The ELSA training course is an evidence-based training it draws on a range of psychological theories and ideas about how people think, feel and behave. The training mixes theory with practice. As part of the training each ELSA will plan and deliver an intervention with an individual or small group of children. Strategies for planning, delivering and evaluating social and emotional interventions are part of the training programme. The course involves 6 full days of training delivered between January and July to enable ELSAs to practice, reflect on and develop their learning experience. This year’s course will involve a mix of online and face to face sessions at the Wandsworth Professional Development Centre. Face to face sessions will be strictly controlled in line with Government guidance for COVID 19 safe working. It is expected that schools signing up to ELSA training will protect staff time for the training, provide access to online working and release staff to attend face to face sessions.

As part of our ELSA initiative SCPS offers ongoing group supervision packages for trained ELSA’s. The purpose of supervision is to support the ELSA’s management of their work psychologically and practically. Starter online supervision sessions are included in the initial ELSA package. Subsequent group supervision will then be available half termly from September 2021 to ELSA’s who have successfully completed the ELSA training course, these sessions are at an additional cost.

Feedback from ELSA course participant:
‘I have had an amazing ELSA journey, Learning new ways to emotionally engage and support children…... the course has given me so much insight as to how children benefit from 'special time'. A time for nurturing, sharing and empowering ideas…..I felt accomplished when I completed the ELSA course and am now trying to put theory into practice and delivering the sessions is exciting.
The resources are fantastic and provide the children with excellent activities, tailored to their individual need.

Teachers of pupils in Years 3 and 4 are invited to this event. We will look at key expectations in spelling for lower key stage 2, links with vocabulary development and how to embed the teaching of spelling within writing.