Primary Special Needs - Emotional Literacy: The Hightown ELSAs

Description

The country's first emotional literacy support assistants (ELSAs) have helped Hightown Primary School in Southampton raise standards and cut exclusions by two-thirds.

ELSAs Lorraine Englefield and Tracey Little work with all pupils at their school, but they focus their efforts on those with EBD and other severe behavioural problems. They help them understand and control their emotions and develop strategies to deal with them.

Six years ago, Hightown was put into special measures. Headteacher Sue Bailey explains how important promoting emotional literacy has been in improving behaviour and enhancing learning.

The ELSAs are central to their whole-school approach. From an individual pupil assessment, they decide who needs help with anger management or improvements in empathy, friendship and communication skills.

Part of the series: Primary Management