Well Being & Elsa
Mental Health & Wellbeing
At St Michael’s Infant School, we are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of our pupils and staff. We know that everyone experiences life challenges that can make us vulnerable and at times, anyone may need additional emotional support. We take the view that positive mental health is everybody’s business and that we all have a role to play.
Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA)
Mrs Leney is our ELSA (Emotional literacy support assistant). She helps children with their social skills, building relationships, anger management, understanding their emotions, anxiety, sadness, loss and bereavement.
Young Carers
St Michael’s Infant School is committed to supporting young carers. We aim to ensure young carers at St Michael’s School are identified and offered appropriate support to help well-being and to access the education to which they are entitled. We can assist families in becoming a Surrey Young Carer which will enable them to access support and join in fun activities organised by Surrey.
A young carer is a child or young person (under 18 years old) who is helping to look after someone. Most are helping with the caring for a parent, but some may be taking responsibility for a sibling, or other relative. It may also be the case that the young carer is looking after a family friend.
In some instances, a young carer may care for more than one person.
The person(s) they look after will have one or more of:
Physical disability (including sensory disability)
Learning disability (this could include autism)
Mental health problem
Chronic illness
Substance misuse problem
At St Michael’s School we have a Sunshine Young Carers Club. This meets regularly enabling Young Carers to chat, complete activities and to have a friend over during the school day for ‘tea’.
Please click here to read our school Young Carer Policy.
Dorking Nursery
The Dorking Nursery School and Children’s Centre’s two sites, are friendly and welcoming places where families can access a range of services for children from birth to age 5
They run a range of courses and workshops e.g. Understanding children’s behaviour (5-week course), anxiety workshop with a creche, Post Natal Depression (PND) support group, toilet training workshop, positive play.
They also host activities that maybe suitable for younger siblings, e.g Under 5s stay and play, baby massage.
For more information please visit the Dorking Nursery website.
CAMHS
CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. CAMHS are the NHS services that assesses and treat young people with emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties.
CAMHS support covers depression, problems with food, self-harm, abuse, violence or anger, bipolar, schizophrenia and anxiety, to name a few.
CAMHS services are made up of nurses, therapists, psychologists, support workers and social workers as well as other professionals.
For more support for Children’s Mental Health visit this CAMHS guide.
The Colour Monster
The children have all listened to the story ‘The Colour Monster’ by Anna Llenas. It is a Story about a Colour Monster who is a mix of colours. His friend, a little girl, takes him through each colour to help him understand how he is feeling.
We have used the idea in the story to help the children with their emotional development. There are large colour monster displays containing pictures and words in each classroom so the children can add their name card to the emotion they are feeling. At a point during the day, an adult will offer to discuss how the child is feeling, particularly if the emotion is a negative one.
The displays give children the language to help them describe and express how they are feeling which is such an important part of their emotional development.
