As a Catholic academy we pride ourselves on supporting your ‘whole child’ and nurturing them to become everything that they were created them to be, socially, emotionally, spiritually and morally as well as academically. We believe that if your child is happy, secure and confident along with quality first teaching and strong academic support where needed, they will flourish and be fit for the next stage of their educational journey.
Take 5 Breathing Programme
We believe in the importance of ensuring that all children are calm and ready to learn. To help us achieve this, each class offers the ‘Take 5’ Breathing programme twice a day led by our Take 5 Pupil Ambassadors. This gives all children the opportunity to ‘take 5’ after break time and after lunchtimes, to breathe deeply and re-set, ready for their next learning.
ELSA support
We employ two highly trained and experienced ELSAs ‘Emotional Literacy Support Assistants’ – Mrs Bunkle and Miss Grimwood – who are specially trained teaching assistants, who receive regular updates and supervision from Educational Psychologists.
They provide individual or small group activities to support a variety of mental health and well being needs amongst the children for example to address anxiety, bereavement, friendship, self-esteem and confidence building concerns. Children might need an occasional session, a drop in session or a block of sessions. Each session comprises a variety of carefully selected activities, specially tailored to the child’s needs.
If you think that your child would benefit from this support please do not hesitate to contact the school office, Mrs Summers our Head Teacher or email Mrs Bunkle directly: lbunkle@holytrinity.notts.sch.uk
Emotions Coaching and Attachment
In addition to this, all staff are Emotions Coaching trained and we are an Attachment and Trauma Informed school and our policies and practices are underpinned by this along with our school virtues of Respect, Reconciliation, Resilience, Care, Compassion and Courage.
Other pastoral support
We also offer a variety of other informal pastoral support for children who might not yet need ELSA support or for children who might be on the waiting list. This includes pastoral support from our teaching assistant team, Doodle Time – a form of Art Therapy as well as weekly Forest School classroom sessions or specific small group Forest School interventions. To find out more about our Forest School please see that page of the website.
Please read our ‘Supporting your child’s wellbeing guide’ to see a summary of what we offer to all children and then the additional social and emotional support which is available if your child may need it, for whatever reason.
Supporting Your Childs Well Being
If you are worried at all about your child’s mental health and well being, please do not worry alone. Pop in for a chat with either Mrs Summers, Mrs Duckmanton our Mental Health Lead or Mrs Boneham Hill our Special Educational Needs Coordinator.
OLoL Pupil Mental Health And Wellbeing Policy
Beating Your Worries is a useful booklet to use to support your child if they are struggling with anxiety while in lockdown. It is produced by Sophie Wragg and is aimed at children aged 9 +.
If you have any concerns regarding Safeguarding any child, you can contact the following Local Authority Multi Agency teams:
Nottinghamshire County Council contact details:
- Child and Family Services Notts County Council: 01158041248
- The Nottinghamshire Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) can be contacted on 03005008090
- Nottinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership
- Hazel McKibbin, Service Manager, Safeguarding Children (Strategic) and LADO, telephone: 0115 9773921
- Eva Callaghan – Schools, FE Colleges and Early Years Referrals (including nurseries and childminders), telephone: 0115 8041272
