Mental Health and Wellbeing
Wellbeing Support at Cliff Lane
At Cliff Lane Primary School we pride ourselves on providing learning and support for the whole child. Supporting our children with their wellbeing is a growing part of what we offer to our children across the school. Our well being offer is open to children across the school and is overseen by the Inclusion Team.
Individual support is only put in place after full consultations with parents and carers and once written consent has been received.
Zones of Regulation
This is a simple strategy to help children recognise their feelings and those of others. It teaches them techniques to help them to manage their feelings and learn how to feel calm, in other words how to ‘self-regulate’. Zones of Regulation can be used by children of all ages and also adults and works at home as well as in school!
Many schools across the UK have adopted this approach to help children and we are excited that we have begun teaching our children about the Zones of Regulation. For more information please see the Parent Guide below.
Below you will find a brief overview of some of the programmes of wellbeing support we offer at Cliff Lane.
ELSA
ELSA, (Emotional Literacy Support) is a programme designed around helping children with a variety of emotionally based needs such as: Friendships, Self esteem, Confidence, Specific family issues such as separation, Grief and bereavement.
These sessions are carried out on a bespoke 1:1 basis for 6-8 weeks by our ELSA trained LSA, Mrs Meecham. She will design the support sessions around the social, emotional and mental wellbeing needs of the individual child.
Forest School Nurture Group
These sessions take place in our main Forest School ‘classroom’ on a Friday with a small group of children. These sessions give the children a weekly opportunity to further enjoy and explore our outdoor learning environment. Sessions can support a whole host of needs including SEMH needs, fine and gross motor skills, confidence and self-esteem building.
PAT Therapy Dog sessions
Children get to meet, greet, groom, supply treats and talk to our very friendly therapy dog, Cookie. Cookie is a very gentle GreyHound who adores a fuss and looking for crumbs in school. She is owned by one of our Governors, Mrs Hutton, who gives up her own time to come in and support the children. Animals tend to be great leveler for children and have magic abilities to calm and reassure them in ways adults can’t.
Meditation and Relaxation sessions
Mrs Snell, one of our very experienced LSA’s runs our meditation and relaxation sessions twice a week in school. Children attend as a small group in our Ocean Room where Mrs Snell takes them through a variety of calming and breathing exercises, that they can also use outside of the session. Mrs Snell supports the sessions with the use of aromatherapy oils so that all the senses can relax and calm. We quite often have to wake children up after the sessions - very gently of course!
Lego Club
Mrs Williams, our KS1 Phase Leader, runs a weekly Lego Club from her classroom. These sessions are designed to help children learn to work collaboratively to produce some truly amazing builds. The sessions focus on friendship, sharing, patience, observation, fine motor skills and creativity.
