Mrs Robertson is our ELSA here at Cupernham Junior School.  She is also one of our HLTAs (Higher Level Teaching Assistants) and therefore can bridge ELSA into the classrooms. She supports children across the school, who are struggling with their emotional well being and mental health; helps them with recognising and labelling their feelings. 

Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA)

An Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) is a school based learning support assistant, who has had special training from Educational Psychologists to support the emotional development and well-being of children and young people in school, either individually or in small groups and deliver bespoke interventions tailored to the presenting situation or need.   ELSAs attend ongoing group supervision (6 times a year,) to safeguard practice and develop their skills.

Ideas for Families

• Hampshire Website - Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) intervention About ELSA, supervision, training and job specification

• Hampshire CAMHS - Ideas for supporting children and young people from an early stage through to referral:

• Place2Be - ‘supporting your child's mental health’

Hello, my name is Lizzie Pearce

I have been a Family Support Co-ordinator at Cupernham Junior School now for 5 years. My days are varied and it is a privilege to work with parents and their children; support families through a number of challenges that being a parent brings!

I am available to support or signpost parents to other agencies, to support different areas including establishing routines, managing challenging behaviour, stress reducing tips for bedtimes and the often frantic mornings!   Screen time and technology can be both a blessing and be the cause of much disruption in the home, getting advice and setting boundaries might be all that is needed. Attendance may be an issue we can look at the causes and come up with plans together to reduce the stress that this can cause. 

At times we can find ourselves thrown into a family crisis and it is helpful to talk through how to best manage the impact that this might have on our children with someone who is calm, non-judgmental and can often see the bigger picture and help find ways to keep family life running as smoothly as possible during these times.  

I have helped many parents complete a number of different referrals, including CAMHS referrals, these can be stressful but a little support is all that is needed. 

Sometimes we just get caught up with busy lives and feel a lack of free time affects how we feel about being a parent - putting ourselves under unnecessary pressure and feeling that we are not achieving our goals is so common and can lead to us feeling frustrated and exhausted.  Finding ways to look at things differently and being empowered to make small changes can make a big difference. 

Please contact the school office

adminoffice@cupernham-jun.hants.sch.uk

Additional Information