Health and Wellbeing

Dear Parents and Carers,

In our quest to ensure the well-being of the whole school community, we wanted to make you aware of additional support programs and resources that we have available for parents of pupils within our school.

Emotional Literacy Support Worker (ELSA)

My name is Mrs. Waters and I am Malmesbury’s ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant).

My role is to support the emotional development and wellbeing of the pupils at the school. I am here to help a child to learn to understand their emotions and respect the feelings of those around them.

I can provide the time and space for pupils to think about and discuss any issues or personal circumstances that are worrying them and strategies to manage them. This could include, among other things, concerns around bereavement, friendship, self-esteem, anger management or social skills.

If you feel your child would benefit from my help, please speak to their class teacher about accessing ELSA support.

Merton’s Education Wellbeing Service (NHS In-Schools Team) is a source of support for parents of children who are experiencing heightened anxiety or who are experiencing common behavioural difficulties. They offer individual evidence-based programs and early, preventative support with friendly and accessible practitioners online, over the phone or face-to-face.

You can find out more and self-refer using the attached application form, now or in the future.

We also recommend the NHS in Schools YouTube channel for the recorded webinars on common difficulties and challenges including supporting transitions, school anxiety and sleep difficulties (or search ‘Children and Young People’s Wellbeing Service’ on YouTube.

Urgent NHS mental health advice can be found on the NHS website here.

Off The Record

Off The Record is an established charity that has been providing free, professional support to young people and parents in Croydon, Sutton, and most recently Merton over the last 25 years. See below for further information of the services they offer.

Off The Record have created a collection of workshops for parents/carers which are available to all parents living in Croydon, Sutton and Merton:

Eventbrite online parent workshops

Off The Record online parent workshops

All workshops are via Zoom. Parents can have their cameras off and there is no expectation for them to speak or interact with each other. The workshops will be psychoeducational based, with some tips and strategies.

Other useful resources that are available for parents and carers looking to raise their awareness of mental health as well as general wellbeing include:

https://www.annafreud.org/parents-and-carers/resources/

https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/

https://mindedforfamilies.org.uk/young-people

https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/parents-helpline

Please speak to a member of staff if you would like any other support or assistance.