Home School Link Worker/ELSA
Home School Link Worker
Katherine Bourne is our Home School Link Worker (HSLW) and our Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) . Katherine works as a HSLW across both Shottermill Infant School and Junior School to support the wellbeing of children and families. Her working times for the Infant School are as follows:
- Monday afternoon
- Tuesday morning
- Wednesday afternoon
The role of the HSLW is to:
- offer support to pupils, parents and families on a wide variety of issues (e.g. emotional wellbeing or bereavement)
- promote positive behaviour at home and in school
- help ensure children attend school regularly
- help create links between home and school
- help support families through financial difficulties (e.g. food bank, charity referrals)
Katherine can provide one-to-one support and advice, therapeutic sessions for children and families or signpost to other agencies for Early Help. She also works with other professionals such as the School Nurse and offers support groups for parents and carers where possible on a range of topics and themes.
If you would like to contact Katherine, her email address is: HSLW@shottermill-infant.surrey.sch.uk
Home School Link Worker information and contact details
Click on the links below for useful websites for support and advice:
Surrey Family Information Service
General advice including financial and legal support
Emotional Literacy Support Worker (ELSA)
What is ELSA Intervention?
An ELSA in a school is an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant. There is a recognised training course aimed specifically at Teaching Assistants or other specialist school roles. ELSAs are specialists with a wealth of experience of working with children and young people. ELSAs are trained and regularly supervised by Educational Psychologists. The course tends to be 6 full days and covers many areas from emotional literacy to active listening.
Supervision
ELSAs must be supervised regularly by the Educational Psychologists who trained them. This supervision is key to good practice and allows the ELSA to bring up any problems with a group of other ELSAs along with the Educational Psychologist.
ELSA Relationship
ELSAs are warm, kind and caring people who want to make children and young people feel happy in school. and to reach their potential socially, emotionally and academically. They understand the barriers to learning that some children and young people might have and can help them with this.
They can support the children and young person’s emotional development and help them cope with life’s challenges. ELSAs will also help children and young people to find solutions to problems they might have.
An ELSA is not there to fix problems but to help them find their own solutions and offer that important support to a child or young person.
Relationships are key in helping children and young people to feel safe and nurtured. ELSA is about creating a reflective space for the child or young person.
