Grangehurst Primary School

Children cannot always put their needs into words, but the way children behave can tell us a lot about how they are feeling.

Our SEW provision aims to support those children who are experiencing temporary or longer term emotional need and support school staff to better understand those needs being signaled by the children's behaviour. Our provision provides us with targeted strategies and activities to help staff re-engage pupils with learning and life.

Unfortunately, like all of us at some point in our lives there will always be children and young people in schools facing life challenges that detract from their ability to engage with learning; some will require greater support than others. As a school we recognise that children learn better and are happier in school if their emotional needs are also addressed. What is needed then is understanding and support to get them back on track. Many children will respond to the care, understanding and support given by parents, family, friends and teachers. However, some children need a little bit extra.

Children who need a little bit of extra help are identified through our whole-class screening process, by class teachers, or through communication with families or outside agencies. For some children there may be an obvious reason why they need a bit of extra support. This might be bereavement, family break down or an identified medical condition such as ADHD. For others, there can be no obvious trigger to why they are finding some aspects of school and/or home-life difficult.

Working closely with parents and class teachers, our Pastoral Team will carry out full assessments using the Boxall Profile to identify children's social, emotional and behavioural needs (Further information about Boxall Profiling can be found below). This helps us to build a bespoke action plan of activities to support their needs. Action plans are shared with parents and they are encouraged to do some of the activities at home if possible. They are reviewed regularly to see the progress children have made. These programmes will last for approximately 6 to 12 weeks, helping the pupil to learn some specific new skills or coping strategies.

The majority of the work is delivered on an individual basis, but sometimes small group work is more appropriate, especially in the areas of social and friendship skills. Sessions are fun, using a range of activities such as: games, role-play with puppets or arts and craft. The sessions take place in our very own 'SEW Room' which provides a calm, safe space for the child to feel supported and nurtured.

Targets will be set for each of the children who receive SEW support.  Each session will have an objective that the member of staff wants the pupil to understand or achieve. By setting targets for the children, and by also formulating a "baseline" from which we can work, we are able to "measure" the impact of our SEW provision.

These measures could be linked to attendance, punctuality, a reduction in the number of outbursts, less involvement with the behaviour management system or an improvement in their attainment, achievement, productivity or attitude. The staff are able to monitor this through our C-POMS system as well as by speaking with teaching staff and parents and carers. 

It needs to be appreciated that change cannot necessarily be achieved rapidly and is dependent upon the context and complexity of the presenting issues. For children with complex or long-term needs it is unrealistic to expect our SEW provision to resolve ‘fix’ all their difficulties, however support will be designed to target specific aspects of a child's need. Training and development of our Pastoral Staff is an ongoing process and wisdom is required to recognise when issues are beyond the level of expertise that could reasonably be expected of them.

In these circumstances the needs of these child would be discussed within our Pastoral and SEND Team meetings. If required the school would support parents/carers with referrals for further specialist support such as: the school nursing team, counselling, play therapy, CAMHS or other specialist external support.

Our aim is to establish a warm, respectful relationship with a pupil and to provide them with the time and space where they are able to share honestly their thoughts and feelings and think about their personal circumstances and how they manage them. By building positive relationships with the children it can help them learn to better understand their emotions and think about their behaviours, worries and anxieties and respect the feelings of those around them.

By doing this our children who benefit from our SEW support can make huge strides in their progress, confidence, belief and become positive learners who are better placed to achieve their potential. 

Everyone benefits from our SEW provision (although they might not realise it); most art and sport activities are taught with SEW in mind and we use specific whole class SEW/PHSE activities across our curriculum.

If following screening/assessment your child needs regular out of class SEW support either one-to-one or in a small group, you will be consulted and asked for your input into their assessment and the resulting action plan.

At Grangehurst we don't consider our Social Emotional Wellbeing provision to be an intervention for just a few children, we consider it to be a whole-school approach. We believe that all behaviour is communication and that communication needs to be understood and supported - not "dealt" with. Our SEW provision feeds into everything we do; celebration assemblies, getting to know everyone and their families, sharing all achievements not just academic ones, celebrating our diversity and our collective spirit.

Our Pastoral Team are very active members of staff around our school. You will find them at the gate or on the playground at the start and end of the school day. This allows parents and carers to gain open access to them and it allows them to engage with children at the start of the day to try and make the start of every day a positive one.

If you would like to find out more about our SEW provision please speak to a member of our Pastoral Team or contact the school.