Why We Need ELSAs in Educational Communities

10 years of evidence based ELSA research shows that children, young people, educational communities and families have benefitted from the support provided by ELSAs during the last decade. At this time, we are acutely aware of some of the difficulties and adversities that children and young people face and may continue to face during this pandemic. The skills that ELSAs bring are to support children and young people with overcoming life's challenges, to support their wellbeing, to provide relational care, and to help children and young people to develop the skills they need that promote emotional, social, and psychological growth and resilience.

Why Choose Summit?

Summit Psychology Services took the lead, investing in, and introducing ELSA Training and Supervision to Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in 2018. The ELSA Network training that Summit Psychology Services provides is quality assured by the national ELSA Network, so you can be certain that not only will you have highly experienced trainers and qualified supervisors, but that training and supervision is of the highest possible national standards. The lead trainer, Dr Dawn Bradley, is also a member of the national ELSA Network steering group and is the regional contact for advising and guiding all other ELSA Network training providers in the West Midlands and the North West.

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ELSA Course Details

ELSA training is a 6 day nationally accredited course that teaches and supports teaching assistants in developing the emotional literacy and overall resiliency of children and young people. Teachers with available time to successfully hold the ELSA role in schools have also completed training and become accredited.
 

ELSAs are trained to transfer their knowledge and skills to plan and deliver bespoke and individualised programmes of support for children and young people in their school or setting. A programme of support usually lasts for one half term but can extend to a term.

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All training days and supervision sessions are delivered by specialist Educational Psychologists. There are an additional two days of optional training in Attachment, Trauma, Relational Care in Education, and Emotion Coaching. Optional days are also certified. At a minimum, ELSAs will attend six days core training, up to a maximum of 8 days. The core training content covers the following:

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• Attachment Aware and Trauma Informed ELSAs

• ELSA and Emotional Literacy in Schools

• Building Resilience and Self-Esteem: Part 1

• Building Resilience and Self-Esteem: Part 2

• Understanding Feelings, Social, and Friendship Skills

• Story Work, Loss, and Bereavement

• Puppet Work, Active Listening, and Reflective Conversations

• Emotion Coaching  ELSAs

During and After Training ELSAs will be able to:

• Carry out regular (weekly) sessions with individual pupils or small groups if this is appropriate.

• Develop individualised programmes of support that are matched specifically to the individual needs of children and young people.

• Monitor interventions using appropriate tools for evaluating the impact and efficacy of the support provided.

• Share ideas with other staff in your school community about how best to support pupils in school.

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During and After Training ELSAs will receive:

• A minimum of six days training including an information pack, resources, and access to additional complimentary resources, webinars, and online training, prepared and hosted by Summit Psychology Services.

• Six sessions of mandatory ELSA supervision approximately every six weeks for a minimum of two hours in small groups with British Psychological Society registered supervisors.

• Peer support from the growing and thriving ELSA community in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent schools.
   

Educational Communities will Need to Commit to Supporting Their ELSAs Both During and After Training

This support and commitment needs to come from within the educational community, SLT, and a designated ELSA line manager.

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Please Read the Following Documents Before Registering an ELSA for Training to Ensure you are Aware of your Commitments to your ELSA(s)

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• School Commitment and School Support

• Questions to Consider for ELSA Line Managers

• ELSA Person Specification

NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LYME

TRAINING VENUE

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FOR THE THIRD YEAR RUNNING WE ARE ONCE AGAIN FULLY BOOKED FOR ALL ELSA TRAINING COURSES

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TO RESERVE A PLACE ON THE NEXT TRAINING COHORT

OR FOR MORE INFORMATION
PLEASE CONTACT US

Training ELSAs since 2018

Take the Summit Lead

Learning| Exploration| Aspiration| Development

STAFFORD

TRAINING VENUE

FOR THE THIRD YEAR RUNNING

WE ARE ONCE AGAIN FULLY BOOKED FOR ALL ELSA TRAINING COURSES

​

TO RESERVE A PLACE ON THE

NEXT TRAINING COHORT

OR FOR MORE INFORMATION

PLEASE CONTACT US

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Thank you so much for the fantastic training. It has completely changed my outlook. I have learned so much, and reflect so much more on what I say and do.

Dawn is so knowledagable and I love that we stay connected after training.

(ELSA)

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All of the sessions are packed full of useful information and skills to take away. Thank you for a great course.

(ELSA)

I wanted to say thank you for this training. The skills and knowledge our ELSA now has have been invaluable in these difficult times. We are much better equippped to emotionally support our children and at a time when they most need it.

(Headteacher)

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This course was amazing.

Dawn is such an inspiration.

It has already had such a positive impact for our children.

(ELSA)

What a brilliant course!

I couldn't wait to come back every month to learn more; and I love supervision, it's so helpful to share ideas and talk

(ELSA)

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Each one of us in the ELSA community is very much valued. Our strengths are nurtured. Dawn has built the ELSA community through collaboration, encouragement, and an empathic and reassuring group of ELSAs has been formed.

(ELSA)

After a year, the impact of having a trained ELSA has been clearly evident. We were so impressed with what our ELSA has learned from the training that we are training another ELSA.

(SENDCo)

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It has had such a positive impact in our school. Everyone should have an ELSA.

(Headteacher)

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