At Crofton, we understand the importance of talking to the children about their emotions. Each morning, as the children come in to class, they will put their names in one of our ‘emotion buckets’ building on the emotions introduced at the Infant School. The adults in the classroom will then have an opportunity to talk to children about their feelings on a 1:1 basis when needed.
Assemblies and PHSE lessons further support the emotion buckets and staff are trained in ‘Zones of Regulation’ supporting children in managing and understanding feelings and emotions. Where needed, children have individual emotion scales to develop regulation.
A nurture group is a school-based intervention run by Mrs Munro, our school ELSA with up to six pupils at a time. The Nurture Club is designed to address the social and emotional needs that can be a barrier to pupils’ learning.
Our Nurture Club is a small, short-term intervention available for those children that need it. The aim is to support the child with building positive relationships with both staff and peers in a supportive environment. Weekly meetings with the Wellbeing Team determine which pupils would require to be in the nurture group based on their social, emotional, and mental health needs.
This intervention group is a short term intervention with the aim of further equipping the children with the skills needed for maintaining successful relationships. This group will focus on understanding emotions and the impact of those emotions, developing social skills such as team work and sharing, as well as building confidence and self esteem. Our aims for this group are for children to:
As the need arises, some children are provided with a ‘Listening Ear’ who is a member of staff available to check in and be a point of contact for the child when needed. This intervention is carried out by Mrs Adams, our Learning Mentor and Mrs Munro, our ELSA who are trained to listen impartially and confidentially in a non-judgemental manner, providing an understanding ‘listening ear’ for all.
Every week, the children will take part in a PSHE lesson, Circle time or P4C session. These sessions aim to develop the children’s confidence, self-esteem and help them understand and manage their emotions and the world around them.
As a school, we are lucky enough to have three Therapy Dogs: Django, Daisy and Lemmy who are Canine Concern Care Dogs. Canine Concern provides care dog visits to those who may benefit the most from our service, such as care homes, hospitals, work places and schools. The children really enjoy reading to the dogs and coming to show them their work. Research has shown that simply petting a dog lowers the stress hormone cortisol, while the social interaction between people and their dogs actually increases levels of the feel-good hormone oxytocin. Evidence has shown that pets can reduce stress and anxiety, and even improve your cardiovascular health! Caring for an animal can help children grow up more secure and active.
Each week, children are randomly selected to come and celebrate their work with the Senior Leadership Team. The children bring all their books and get a chance to show SLT their amazing work. Both the children and SLT really look forward to this time together, sharing their learning over a drink and a biscuit!
Each week the children’s achievements are celebrated in assembly. Each class teacher nominates a ‘star of the week’ as well as half-termly ‘achievement awards’ and certificates are awarded in assemblies by a member of the Senior Leadership Team for demonstrating one of our Crofton Values.
Our values are:
In addition, we celebrate Millionaire Readers where children receive a certificate and praise in Assembly. When a child achieves a 5-Millionaire Reader award, they are presented with a book voucher and certificate by Mrs Sargent, our Head Teacher.
Throughout Year 4, children are awarded with Pen Licences for development in their presentation. Children receive a certificate and a pen in the Year 4 assembly.
Our ELSA is Mrs Munro! An ELSA is an emotional literacy support assistant who has been specially trained and is regularly supervised by Educational Psychologists working for the Local Education Authority. Their role is to support the emotional development of children and young people in school. Their aim is to remove the barriers to learning and to have happy children in school and at home.
An ELSA can help with:
Our Learning Mentor is Mrs Adams and she provides support and guidance to children who are experiencing difficulties in learning due to social, emotional or behavioural problems or other issues. Mrs Adams supports pupils in overcoming these difficulties that are affecting their learning either on an individual or group basis.
She is available to all pupils who can ask to see her via their teacher or visit our lunchtime Studio, where she is based throughout this time, to talk over their worries and concerns.
The Rainbow Room is a quiet indoor area for break and lunchtimes that teachers can refer children to attend if the playground is too busy or if a child has a medical issue that would mean they are best remaining inside for short periods. Two members of staff talk and encourage playing games or mindfulness colouring with the children.
Sometimes children need to have a safe space for a few minutes to regulate if the playground is feeling overwhelming.
Mrs Adams, our Learning Mentor, is here throughout the lunchtime and can advise, provide coping strategies and techniques, speak to parents or other children about an issue or just be a listening ear for those who just want to talk.
The Woodland Playground is a quieter playground where quiet games take place. This area is overseen by Mrs Adams and dedicated Midday Supervising Staff.
Children from Years 4 – 6 take part in official Anti-Bullying training in order to become an Anti-Bullying Ambassador. They have regular meetings in which they discuss strategies to promote anti-bullying throughout the school and take part in projects to raise awareness of various issues. They wear rainbow lanyards, badges and wristbands so that they are easily identifiable on the playground. Children know that they can talk to an ambassador anytime that they feel upset or think they might be experiencing bullying. The ambassador will employ active listening skills so that they can then be pointed in the right direction. Sometimes all that’s needed is a friendly listening ear and at other times, they will need to see a member of staff who can help the situation further.
As a school we are working with a charity called The Diana Award. Supported by HRH The Duke of Cambridge, The Diana Award Anti-Bullying Campaign engages young people, parents and teachers to change the attitudes, behaviour and culture of bullying by building skills and confidence to address different situations, both online and offline. It is a youth charity founded in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, and her belief that young people have the power to change the world.
The Diana Award provides resources and support for people who are experiencing bullying behaviour, those who want to support someone who is experiencing bullying behaviour and for people like us, who are passionate about promoting an anti-bullying culture and communities of kindness.
Antibullyingpro.com is a resource centre developed by The Diana Award, the charity behind a nationwide force of trained Anti-Bullying Ambassadors in UK schools who are tackling bullying behaviour.
At Crofton we are proud to be a part of this wonderful initiative!