Hello!

For those who I have not met before, I am Mrs Martin and I am the Emotional Literacy Support Lead at Freemantle Academy.  My role in school is to support our children in relation to their emotional wellbeing.  The ELSA role was developed and is supported by Educational Psychologists in Southampton in 2000.  I receive regular training and supervision from Educational Psychologist's, to enable me to plan and deliver individualised support tailored to the needs of the children.  Children who are facing challenges in their emotional literacy are not able to fully engage in learning, so it is important that we support them because this supports their academic learning and their overall development.    

ELSA work is usually done one to one, however sometimes if we are working on friendship or social skills it is more appropriate to work in a small group.  The basis of ELSA work is building a relationship, to enable a calm, safe space to support and nurture emotional development.  Once this relationship is established new skills and strategies can be taught.  Amongst other things ELSA can help with self-esteem, anger, anxiety, friendship and social skills, Loss and bereavement.  ELSA work is not a quick 'fix', time is sometimes needed to learn and practice new skills.  

I hope this gives you a little overview of what ELSA is.  The aim of this page is to provide information on different areas of emotional literacy with ideas of things that you can do at home too, so please check back now and again to see what's new!