Supporting social, emotional and mental health
Rising Together will address the social, emotional and mental health difficulties at their root to allow children to thrive in an emotionally nurturing environment. This is an opportunity for children to be immersed in an environment where highly trained staff will support their emotional growth and allow them to develop the strategies and resilience to manage their emotions in their own school so that they can go on to achieve alongside their peers.
The vision for Rise Together is to provide intensive support for children and their families that goes beyond the school walls. Parenting support will allow parents to be involved in their child’s emotional and social experience which is then transferred to the family home with Rise Togethers help and advice.
However, the ultimate measure of the success of Rise Together will be young people going on to achieve national expected standards in either their home school or at Rise. The Rise Together model will also support the difficult transition between key phases and ensure the intensive support given will follow them into future provisions.
The key behind the success of the child’s journey in Rise Together will be the information collected and assessments undertaken upon entry. This information will inform the timetable put in place for each child. This admission process has been trialled and refined over many years by Rise Academy to provide a holistic view of the child’s needs academically, socially, medically and in their home setting. The assessment tools used include the following:
Full family history
Full family history drilling down into the risks and protective factors within the family, including information from other agencies as required Eg Social Care
My story
My story – a child’s point of view told in their words
Multi-element
Multi-element plan
Literacy and numeracy
Literacy and numeracy level assessment
Clinical Evaluation
Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF)
Boxall
Boxall profile
MAPA
MAPA plan (Managing Actual and Potential Aggression)
This list is not exhaustive but provides an invaluable start in getting the support right for the child from the start so that their beginning days in Rise Together is positive and successful. The timetable will be overseen by an Educational Psychologist to ensure that emotional and social needs can be met, including if required, speech and language development.
The Rise Together curriculum will be a fluid, responsive curriculum that will provide each individual child with their own bespoke visual timetable that will be tailored to meet their academic and emotional, mental health needs.
The teaching group base environment will be a Nurture Group, based on the principles of the Nurture Group Network and built on the research by Marian Boxall. This will be the child’s ‘home’ during the school day and where they will be offered 1:1 and group activities in emotional literacy. Each week their Nurture Group will include activities designed to expand the child’s experiences beyond the classroom walls. An integral part of the nurture group session is relaxation, meditation and mindfulness.
Literacy and numeracy using task-based approaches will ensure that each child can meet national expected progress despite their interrupted schooling. This will be delivered in small groups depending upon the ability or needs of the child.
Early intervention in families, reducing the risk factors leading to mental health difficulties and conduct disorders is more likely to be successful if schools invest early enough in emotional and therapeutic support to children. School are likely to reap benefits later on in the child’s school and life and eventually even reduce the need for alternative provision in Key Stage 3 and 4.
The Rise Together model could also offer a cross phase support to allow a stepped integration into KS4 with continued access to high quality emotional and therapeutic support so that young people with social and emotional difficulties that by the nature of their difficulties are less likely to manage at key transitional phases.
The Rise Together approach will assess and ensure that the right support in available and in place depending on the needs of the individual. This may be by reflecting and building on existing EHCP’s or in the process of gathering sufficient evidence to apply for additional support.
