Pastoral Support

At Smawthorne Henry Moore Academy, we are incredibly lucky to have Mrs Boyd and Mrs Thorpe to facilitate our pastoral support to children and families.

Mrs Boyd, Attendance Officer and Learning Mentor, and Mrs Thorpe, Safeguarding and Child Protection Lead, have a key role in championing the needs of the children who may be facing barriers to effective learning, both inside and outside of school. Working with pupils, teachers, parents, carers, families, schools, other professionals and agencies, helping to construct a responsive support network to individual needs.

Both Mrs Boyd and Mrs Thorpe are trained ELSA practitioners. ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) sessions are bespoke to individual children where they may require some extra support. 

What is ‘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.

ELSAs help children and young people learn to understand their emotions and respect the feelings of those around then.  They provide time and space for pupils to think about their personal circumstances and how they manage them.

 Our aims include:

• identifying particular difficulties and seeking solutions;
• setting realistic targets in order to encourage pupils to re-engage in effective learning;
• raising achievements;
• raising aspirations.

Areas within school that we particularly focus on include:

• self esteem and confidence building;
• social skills;
• study skills;
• motivation;
• attendance;
• punctuality.

Our Pastoral Team negotiate and plan support programmes with the pupil and goes on to develop a one-to-one mentoring relationship aimed at sharing information and helping them to achieve their targets. Personal / social skills and positive attitudes to learning are sometimes further developed by group work.

Undertaking activities to support the development of a healthy school and community environment; some of these activities are:

• 1:1 mentoring and group work;

• team building;

• Lego therapy;

• nurture groups;

• Social Speaking

• supporting pupils through transition. 

  The value of positive and active involvement by parents cannot be overstated. Talk to your child about their targets and general progress and please do contact school if you have any questions. In most cases, the staff in school will identify pupils who need support, but, if you as a parent/carer have concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.  

Mrs Boyd -

Attendance Officer and Learning Mentor

Mrs Thorpe-

Safeguarding and Child Protection Officer