Parkside Primary School

Home School Support

At Parkside we value the importance of fostering positive relationships and communication with parents and carers in order to best support our children. We operate an open door policy and encourage parents to communicate with us as and when they need. Our Home-school support worker is available to help you and your child with any worries or concerns that you may have. You can ask to speak or make an appointment by contacting the school office or by speaking to your child’s class teacher.

What support is available?

There are a range of ways in which our home-school support worker may be able to support you, your child and family including:

Support with behaviour; both in school and at home
Advice and signposting to appropriate support agencies
Completion of Early Help Assessments where needed
Working with children to develop social skills
Emotional support for children
Working with teachers and other professionals to meet emotional and behavioural needs
Working with parents to establish daily routines

Please do not hesitate to contact school if you feel as though your child or family would benefit from support or guidance in any of these areas.

Emotional Support

Within school we also offer additional support for children that may need some help with emotional and behavioural needs or social skills development.

At Parkside we have implemented ELSA programmes in order to meet the emotional needs of children. We recognise that children learn better and are happier in school when their emotional needs are met.

What is an ELSA?

ELSAs are emotional literacy support assistants. They are teaching assistants who have had training from educational psychologists to support the emotional development of children. ELSAs have regular professional supervision from educational psychologists to help them in their work.

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

Our ELSA programmes usually run for around six weeks and aim to help the child learn some specific new skills or coping strategies. The programme is designed to support children with aspects such as social skills, emotions, bereavement, anger management, self-esteem, friendships and social stories and therapeutic stories. Please speak to your child/ren’s class teacher or our home- school support worker for more information on additional support.