Social and Emotional Intelligence and Well-being

Social Intelligence

At St Alban’s we enable all our children to become active and caring members of our school family and our wider society. We teach our children to be kind, understanding and empathetic and to understand how their actions impact others. Our children develop a clear understanding of social responsibility and what it means to be an active and responsible member of our school community. Our curriculum ensures that our children have an understanding of today’s complex world and are ambitious in their desires to have a positive impact on their local community and the wider world.

School Parliament

The School Parliament is made of a selection of children from KS2 who are elected to represent the views of all pupils and to improve the school. A key part of their role of the School Parliament is to support pupils to understand that their opinion is of value, that their voices should be heard, and that their suggestions have merit.  They help them to learn how to communicate effectively and show them how to develop skills that will remain with them throughout their lives.

Everyone at St Alban’s is passionate about pupil voice and recognises the importance of an effective School Parliament which represents the views of all children and supports school improvement and development. The School Parliament works as a team and meets regularly to discuss the key objectives and progress made towards these. 

Green Team

Our Green Team lead the way in raising awareness of sustainable living. They monitor the school’s energy use using eco|Driver and analyse the data to come up with energy saving solutions. They measure the food waste at lunchtime with the aim to reduce the amount of food thrown away each day. Green Team collect all recycling at the end of the week to be placed in the schools large recycling bins.

Emotional Intelligence

We teach our children to be resilient, independent, self-aware and to build life skills. Our children are taught the skills they need to be mentally well and to develop emotional literacy. We use Zones of Regulation to teach our children how to recognise, understand and regulate their emotions. This allows all children and staff to have a shared emotional vocabulary and teaches the children to problem solve. The children are taught strategies to independently self-regulate their emotions and how to recognise their own and others’ emotions. We use Jigsaw, a mindful approach to teaching PSHE, as a resource to support our PSHE curriculum.

You can download our Zones of Regulation vocabulary poster here.

You can download our Problem Size KS1 poster here and KS2 poster here. 

At St Alban’s we have a three-tiered graduated approach to support children’s mental health and wellbeing. 

Tier 1 support:

The majority of children flourish under our tier 1 provision. This includes class discussions, assemblies, PSHE lessons, using Zones of Regulation and lunchtime clubs e.g. calm club. We also have Emotion Coaches who the children can talk to. For pupils who need extra support, a SEN concern is raised and additional interventions will be considered.

Tier 2 support:

ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) – The ELSA initiative was developed and supported by educational psychologists to support children with temporary or longer term emotional needs. An ELSA will usually deliver sessions on an individual basis, however sometimes a small group may be more appropriate. ELSA sessions can support children with a range of emotional needs:

• Self-esteem
• Developing social skills
• Friendship skills
• Recognising emotions
• Anger management
• Loss and bereavement

Children are referred for ELSA support by the SENCo, after a discussion with the class teacher and parents.

We also have a Home School Link Worker (HSLW). Home School Link Workers are an early intervention/prevention service, operating during term-time, to work with families to reduce current issues affecting their children and prevent future difficulties. Families are referred for this service by the SENCo. 

Tier 3 support:

We have a counsellor who delivers individual sessions. Children are referred for these counselling sessions by the SENCo, after a discussion with the class teacher and parents.  

Sometimes children may need a more tailored approach to meet their needs. Where appropriate, the SENCo will refer to CAMHS or use the educational psychologist who works with our school.

Please talk to your child's class teacher, Miss E Daly (Mental Health Lead) or Mrs A Mettrick (Deputy Head) if you have any concerns about your child's well-being.