What is ELSA?

At Archbishop Courtenay Primary School, we understand that every pupil’s emotional well-being is just as important as their academic progress. That’s why we have trained Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs) in our school.

ELSA stands for Emotional Literacy Support Assistant. An ELSA is a specially trained member of staff who supports pupils with their emotional and social development. They help children learn how to understand and manage their feelings, build confidence, improve relationships with others, and develop important life skills.

Our ELSA sessions are tailored to meet the individual needs of each pupil and may include activities such as:

• Talking about feelings and emotions
• Developing strategies to cope with anxiety or stress
• Building self-esteem and resilience
• Improving social skills and friendships
• Supporting pupils through difficult times such as bereavement or family changes

Our dedicated ELSAs are Stacey Barnes, Tracy Gooding, and Tina Makepeace. They work closely with pupils to nurture their emotional well-being, helping them to become strong, resilient, and confident learners who thrive both in and out of school.

If you would like to know more about how ELSA support can help your child, please contact the school office or speak to your child’s class teacher.

ELSA Privacy Notice: 

As part of the Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) service, schools may use brief outcome measures (such as scaling questions) with children, parents and staff to support and review interventions.

Schools may share anonymised and aggregated information only with the ELSA service lead for the purposes of:

• Service monitoring
• Supervision planning
• Evaluating the overall effectiveness of support

No identifiable personal data about children or families is shared externally, and no individual child can be identified from the information provided.

Any discussion of individual cases during supervision is carried out anonymously and in line with professional confidentiality expectations.