Emotional & Social Development
Support for Emotional & Social Development
At Witton-le-Wear Primary School, we are an inclusive school. We consult with a wide range of external agencies and we maintain close partnerships in order to access the best professional advice to ensure the emotional and social development needs of SEN children are met.
Inspired by our School Values, staff believe that high self-esteem is crucial and aim to support and promote the emotional wellbeing of all children. It is the responsibility of each Class Teacher for the pastoral and social care of every child in their class, therefore this would be the parents’ first point of contact should further advice or support be required.
Witton-le-Wear Primary has and maintains close links with External Partnerships, such as the Piece of Mind Team, in order to access the best professional advice. We also link with Local Authority and private providers of additional services, such as: Occupational Therapy, CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) School Nursing Service, Social Services and Medical Professionals. We often hold multi-professional meetings in school, so that parents are comfortable in the school environment and the child can join us easily, if it is appropriate.
We ensure that the views of children are listened to through circle time, our EYFS keyworker system, regular PSHCE sessions as well as positive family friendly relationships between staff, pupils and families, maintaining practitioners are highly attuned to any changes in behaviour which may be indicative of need for extra support.
As a school we have a very positive approach to all types of behaviour with a positive reward system that follows a restorative approach to behaviour management. We also operate Class Dojo. The children are rewarded with dojos for positive behaviour that link to our School Values. Children can be awarded Castle Cash (Dojo Dollars) when the reach 100 dojos and weekly certificates are presented in our Celebration Assembly for the children who have received the most dojos. Children may also be nominated for Star of the Week award from each class, which may be given for academic or non-academic reasons but always linked to our School Values, and often for things they do over and above the basic expectations in school. These systems are embedded across school and the children enjoy their celebrations and rewards.
We have trained peer mediators that are there to support any pupil/pupils who are having friendship issues. If the peer mediators have concerns they pass them onto Mrs Forsyth, who is our peer mediator lead.
Attendance of every child is monitored on a daily basis. Lateness and absence are recorded using our electronic register and signing in system and reports are generated for review by the senior leadership team. We encourage 100% attendance through our ‘Witton’s Wheel of Fortune’ incentive scheme. We award children with vouchers weekly for 100% attendance. Where attendance becomes an issue, we aim to work closely with the parents to remove any barriers.
