Drawing and Talking
Drawing and Talking is a safe and easy to learn serial drawing technique for use with children or young people who have suffered trauma or have underlying emotional difficulties. It supports those who are not realising their full potential, either academically or socially. The purpose of the method is to encourage children to draw with a person with whom they feel comfortable at the same time each week. The trusted person will ask a number of non-intrusive questions about the drawing and over time a symbolic resolution is found to conflicts and trauma is healed.
Working with the children needs to be carried out safely and non-intrusively, with respect for their own pace and state of being. This is why anyone using Drawing and Talking learns to stay in the world of the child’s drawing. The child sets the pace and decides what to bring to the session. Once they feel safe, their imagination begins to unfold.
After completion of Drawing and Talking Therapy, children are more able to control their behaviour, better able to access an academic curriculum and most importantly have higher self-esteem; this allows them to thrive in the world around them. We want all children and young people to have the opportunity to achieve and develop the skills and character to make a successful transition into adult life.
Drawing and Talking is a 12-week course. The sessions are for 30mins each week, and take place with a trained practitioner. We will discuss with you first if we think the Drawing and Talking Programme would help your child. If you think your child would benefit from Drawing and Talking please contact the Pastoral team for further information.
Families Connect
Here, at Whitehouse Community Primary School we offer the 'Families Connect' Programme. 'Families Connect' was established by 'Save the Children' to support parents and carers to create a home environment that enhances and promotes learning. The course is open to all parents and carers of Reception age children. It is delivered once a week for 8 weeks. Each workshop lasts for two hours. We cover the importance of positive praise, recognising feelings and emotions, listening skills and a range of fun games and activities to support literacy and numeracy.
For more information please contact Mrs K Gotts (Pastoral Support Worker) or Mrs J Moore (EAL Support worker/TA).
For more information about 'Families Connect' and 'Save the Children' please click on the link below:
https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/what-we-do/uk-work/in-schools/families-connect#
NSPCC- Pants Rule
The NSPCC guide to helping you speak to your children about staying safe from sexual abuse. Using the friendly dinosaur the Pantosaurus, talking PANTS is a simple way to teach your child how to stay safe from abuse:
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/underwear-rule/
Children with autism may find this guide more useful:
https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/whitehouse-community-primary-school/UploadedDocument/d7c7143e919c4e839a2c66ce2b423591/20161202_nspcc_pants_autism-childrens-guide-update_rgb_online_cm_online.pdf
Thrive
CAF (Common Assessment Framework)
The Common Assessment Framework is a way of working with families who may need additional support through difficult times. This framework puts the family’s needs at the heart of decisions made.
The aim is for everyone, including children, young people and parents/carers to agree the first steps and types of support that will help families work their way out of problems and resolve difficulties.
For further information see the website below
https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/common-assessment-framework-caf
Health related support
We work with the school nursing and dental teams, with Onelife Suffolk, Occupational Therapists, Health visitors and GPs to ensure children are able to access school and are encouraged to lead a healthy lifestyle.
We also provide Speech and language interventions for children who do not meet the NHS threshold for support.
The School Nursing Team
The school nurses provide the Healthy Child Programme to ensure a healthy start for children and young people aged between 5 and 19 years old through key pathways based on:
physical health and development,
sexual health,
emotional health and well-being,
as well as further support, which aims to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience and safeguarding.
If you have any concern that you think the school nurse may be able to help with, please contact the Pastoral Team who can make a referral for you.
For more information, see the website below:
https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/childrens-health/school-nursing/
Suffolk Young Carers
Supporting Children and Young people aged 5 – 24 years old whose lives involve extra caring responsibilities:
Contact:
01473 835400
https://suffolkfamilycarers.org/young-carers/
Practical support
We work with charities who can provide emergency provisions, including food parcels. Please contact the Pastoral team if you would like to discuss this support.