Welcome to Willington's dedicated Mental Health and Well-being page. Here you will find out about our fantastic team of both staff and pupils who all contribute towards your children's journey through school life. We are committed to investing in our pupil’s health and well-being and we offer a range of pastoral support and social and emotional interventions. Emotional Literacy is important not only in school, but in the wider world.  It gives us the ability to recognise, understand, handle and appropriately express emotions. In light of this, at Willington Primary School, we commit to explicitly teaching our pupils these life skills and use a range of resources and strategies to do so.

How do we support our pupils at Willington Primary School?

Emotional Zones of Regulation

 Zones of Regulation lessons provide a child friendly approach to thinking and talking about our feelings on the inside and how they impact on our behaviour on the outside. Pupils at Willington are taught to think about emotions in four different coloured zones. A common language has been developed across the school so that children and adults can use this when supporting children with emotional regulation throughout school life. Every classroom features a 'Regulation Station', providing resources to support pupils with self regulation. The Sensory Wall in school is also used to support regulation for some of our children. 

Learners benefit from:

• Increased self-awareness and social and emotional skills
• A common language for communication, problem solving, and emotional understanding
• More time spent on learning instead of on behavior management
• A healthier, more inclusive school climate

ELSA

Mrs Chapman is a trained ELSA.  ELSAs are Emotional Literacy Support Assistants.  They are Teaching Assistants who have had special training from Educational Psychologists to support the emotional development of children and young people in school.  ELSAs have regular professional supervision from Educational Psychologists to help them in their work. They help pupils learn to understand their emotions and respect the feelings of those around them.  They provide the time and space for pupils to think about their personal circumstances and how they manage them.  Most ELSA programmes will last for 6 to 12 weeks, helping the pupil to learn some specific new skills or coping strategies.  Clear programme aims (SMART targets) are set early on and each session has an objective - something the ELSA wants to help the pupil understand or achieve. Targets are set in consultation with the child and parents are informed about how the programme is going.

Positive Play

Mrs Greenwell, Mrs Gadsby and Mrs Twigg are trained Positive Play Support Workers. Positive Play is an early intervention programme designed to raise the self-esteem and emotional wellbeing of shy, timid, disaffected and challenging children. The structured sessions are tailored to meet individual needs, assisting in developing, listening and communication skills, addressing anger management issues and helping children and young people to deal with the consequences of their actions. It is designed to equip children and young people with the necessary resilience, social and life skills to manage the issues that confront them enabling them to access the curriculum and achieve their potential.

Positive Play-Support aims and objectives:

• to allow young people a space to express and communicate feelings and difficulties in their lives, through a variety of media in constructive rather than aggressive ways and in a safe non-threatening environment
• to help young people feel good about themselves and raise self-esteem by providing activities that look at their strengths and by valuing what they do and making it special
• to provide a non-authoritarian, supportive, reliable, safe, unconditional relationship within schools and other settings
• to provide some of the early experiences that may have been missed but which are necessary for formal education and social interaction
• to help young people acquire the complex range of life skills needed to achieve their full potential.

Positive Play sessions are once a week and usually last up to 12 weeks.