Providing a guiding light

Issue 31

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Teaching Scotland journalist

Providing the additional emotional support that our most vulnerable and traumatised children need is a challenge for all schools and teachers. This is where specialist support can be a saviour for teacher, pupil and school.

Headteacher Sheila Laing

Tucked away in the sprawling estates of north-west Edinburgh, Forthview Primary School is a place that doesn't need to seek its challenges.

Amalgamated from two Pilton schools in 2003, Forthview serves a community embroiled in local rivalry and constantly struggling to free itself from the shackles of deep-seated deprivation. In common with so many locals, its birth and formative years were never going to be easy.

When it comes to requiring additional support, Forthview is perhaps the archetypal candidate.

So when Headteacher Sheila Laing came across The Place2Be, a national charity which supports emotional wellbeing in schools, she quickly identified a match.

Sheila already knew that Forthview was not a school solely driven by attainment. Its role in the community is more holistic - fostering an emotional literacy in pupils and their parents - something much more likely to provide a positive contribution to the area and its residents.

Sheila said: "Our school provides an emotional and educational anchor."

This is as necessary as it is laudable. Many children attending Forthview are regularly exposed to circumstances that can challenge, upset and destabilise them, a scenario that The Place2Be was specifically set up to handle.

Implementing the support

"Six years after the birth of a school that could have become a symbol of conflict, we have a community resource and asset"

So, following a successful application for support (which included a small financial commitment and the use of two rooms in the building), The Place2Be began their work in Forthview in 2004 alongside nine other Edinburgh primary schools.

Since then, Sandra Mathews, a qualified teacher and experienced therapist who works as a school project manager with The Place2Be, has been working at the school two-and-a-half days a week. Some of Sandra's time is spent managing a team of four volunteer counsellors who work with 12 individual pupils referred by teachers, parents and social workers. Over the course of an academic year, each of these children are taken out of class for 45 minutes once a week to provide them with on-site one-on-one counselling, which helps them overcome their difficulties in and outside school.

Sandra said: "We use the support of volunteers with expertise in a range of disciplines - anything from clinical psychology to art therapy - to identify, tackle and address individual needs and ultimately build self esteem.

"We also provide a Place2Talk, which is a drop-in service for individual children or groups who would like to discuss anything that's concerning them. The key is that because I'm part of the school community - it's not a big deal to use any part of our service - between 70 and 80 per cent of the children in Forthview use Place2Talk during the school year." Sandra also provides group sessions for children whom the school feels need extra support around issues as varied as transition, dealing with aggression and friendship.

Tangible benefits

Five years on, there are many tangible examples of where The Place2Be has helped the school and its users to come to terms with, manage and move on from challenges that may have otherwise inhibited their growth.

But, just as importantly, The Place2Be has made a significant contribution to the development and reinforcement of a culture at Forthview, which headteacher Sheila knew the people of this part of Pilton needed - a culture of nurture and support.

"Six years after the birth of a school that could have become a symbol of conflict, instead we have a community resource and asset," she said.

Forthview is a school where pupils have developed the ability to express themselves and articulate their emotions in a considered and constructive way. For this corner of Pilton, thanks in part to the work of the supporting charity, and in the main because of the vision of its staff, Forthview has become the place to be.

Charity has nationwide plans

CEO Benita Refson OBE was providing counselling services to young people in secondary schools in inner-London. Through her work, Benita identified a real need for structured, early intervention support services for primary school children. From this need came the now award-winning charity The Place2Be, set up in 1994.

The charity works inside schools to improve the emotional wellbeing of not only children, but also their families and the whole school community. It offers:

  • Onsite counselling and drop-in services for children to help them overcome their difficulties in and outside school
  • A dedicated school-based service for parents to help them form more positive relationships with their children
  • Accredited training for key members of staff to support teachers and other school staff members in creating 'mentally healthy' schools

Since its formation, the charity has established 'hubs' in 16 locations across Britain. From these, it supports 47,000 children in 146 schools. While Edinburgh is currently the only Scottish hub, The Place2Be has ambitious plans to expand the service to other communities across the country.

Scottish Development Officer Catherine Henderson is dedicated to developing the service in Scotland. She said: "We've been working away in Edinburgh quite quietly over the last seven years. But we are now in talks with other local authorities and keen to speak to even more to discuss and expand our services in order that more children and communities can benefit."

Contact The Place2Be

www.theplace2be.org.uk

Telephone: Catherine Henderson on 0131 243 2728

 

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Latest comment...

would like to knowthe GTCS view on this scenario. I agree with Steve its a last option!