Social, emotional and mental health is a top priority at Stanley Crook Primary School. We strive to ensure the positive mental health of all children through an enhanced PSHE curriculum, as well as providing further support for children with special needs in this area.
We have a range of therapeutic interventions available to children who require additional support with social & emotional development, including but not limited to;
Lego Therapy (EYFS/KS1)
LEGO-Based Therapy is a social development program that uses LEGO activities to support the development of a wide range of social skills within a group setting. Playing with LEGO in a therapy setting promotes social interaction, turn-taking skills, sharing, collaborative problem-solving and the learning of concepts. It can be used to target goals around social skills, language and motor skills. Lego Therapy supports self-esteem by allowing the participants to demonstrate their skills in a social situation. It also sets up a positive opportunity for guided social problem-solving to help develop social skills that can then be used in other situations.
Getting Along group (EYFS/KS1)
The focus of Getting Along group is to promote personal and social development. Inherent in the activities is the reinforcement of skills such as speaking and listening, turn-taking, sharing and cooperating. The development of these skills, together with raising self-esteem, is intrinsic in the aims of each session. A crucial feature of the group is that it does not simply focus on children who have deficits in their social skills. The group also includes children who can be supportive and provide positive role models.
During weekly sessions, children will start with a story that provides a focus for discussion for the main themes of that session. Children will then work together on an activity that involves making something that tangibly reinforces the learning outcome of that session. The activities are fun, colourful and enjoyable and are delivered in a relaxed atmosphere. It is important to create situations where barriers and prejudices are broken and children are encouraged to view each other, and themselves, more positively. Getting Along group is a great opportunity for children to extend their classroom learning and develop lifelong social skills.
Zippy’s Friends/Apple’s Friends (LKS2/UKS2)
Zippy’s & Apple’s Friends are social emotional learning programmes which support children to improve their social skills, coping skills and emotional literacy. The fundamental concept of the programmes is very simple – if we can teach young children how to cope with difficulties, they should be better able to handle problems and crises in adolescence and later life. The programmes are based around a series of stories, covering key themes such as feelings, communication, friendship, conflict, change and loss and moving forward. Children develop their own positive strategies to deal with problems through engaging activities, listening to stories, discussion, games, role-play and drawing.
PASSPORT (UKS2)
This programme is aimed at older children in primary school to help them manage their well-being ahead of big changes like tests such as SATS and transition to secondary school. It contains a number of tools and tips to develop emotional and physical resilience. Children explore how they feel using the concept of a ‘wellbeing battery’ and think about what support they need to feel ‘fully charged’, for example, how others can affect their battery level, how they can charge their own batteries and what they can do to charge other people’s batteries. Children record feelings, thoughts and emotions in their own colourful ‘passport’ which they work through in the classroom with their teacher helping them every step of the way.
The Resilience Passport is designed for use within the Personal Health and Social Education (PHSE) curriculum where pupils develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to manage their lives now and throughout life’s journey.
Therapeutic Story Writing (KS2)
Therapeutic Storywriting groups use the metaphor in stories to support children whose emotional and behavioural difficulties are getting in the way of their learning. Therapeutic Storywriting helps children to process difficult feelings, develop social skills and improve children’s engagement with writing. It enables children to develop co-operative and trusting relationships with peers, supports speaking and listening skills and increases emotional vocabulary and a sense of belonging in children. Therapeutic Storywriting has been found to be effective in reducing symptoms of stress, depression, anxiety and anger. It is an effective intervention for increasing significant protective factors associated with pupil’s resilience.
Worry Wizard (EYFS, KS1, KS2)
Worry Wizard is delivered by Bigfoot Arts Education. The Worry Wizard vision is to nurture emotional connection between children, young people and adults, to enable the move from worries to wellbeing.
