Children's mental health is without a doubt the most important aspect of any child's social and cognitive development.­. Providing children with an environment that demonstrates love, compassion, trust, and understanding will greatly impact a child so that they can build on these stepping stones to have a productive lifestyle." Taken from www.kidsmentalhealth.org

At Middlezoy and Othery,  we ensure that our children feel safe and valued and know who they can talk too and turn to for support. Our strong pastrol care ensures that children are supported and have their individual needs met. Being a small school, we are fortunate to be able to know our children very well and staff quickly identify if someone isn't "quiet themselves". This care stretches out to support families too. We are fortunate to be able to offer ELSA, Draw and Talk and the support of a PFSA. 

"Children's mental health is without a doubt the most important aspect of any child's social and cognitive development.­. Providing children with an environment that demonstrates love, compassion, trust, and understanding will greatly impact a child so that they can build on these stepping stones to have a productive lifestyle." Taken from www.kidsmentalhealth.org

ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant)

We are very fortunate to have Mrs Paula Higgs on our team, who is a qualified ELSA practitioner. She is able to support children with their mental wellbeing and emotional needs. Mrs Higgs provides a series of 1:1 sessions which are tailored to meet the needs of the individual child.

Draw and Talk

Draw and Talk is a therapeutic intervention for children. It is designed as a short-term, pro-active intervention allowing children to utilising drawing as a way to help them express their feelings.

Our Draw and Talk sessions are run by Mrs Paula Higgs. 

PFSA

At Middlezoy and Othery Schools,  we have access to a dedicated Parent Family Support Advisor (PFSA) Victoria Gould. Victoria offers support to  whole families, if you feel you would benefit from such support, please speak to Mrs Hayward.  

Our previous PFSA has a useful website. This covers things such as sleep hygiene, dealing with challenging behaviour, explaining anxiety to children, negativity in children. https://suzywedley.wixsite.com/parentingmind 

Helpful websites: 

https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/childrens-mental-health

https://parents.actionforchildren.org.uk/

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-health-development/child-mental-health