Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) is the area of health that includes the ability to express needs, wants and emotions in a positive way, manage anger and conflict and deal appropriately with frustrations.
Examples of Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs, which are listed in the SEND Code of Practice, include:
- Attachment disorder
- Anxiety or depression
- Self-harming and substance misuse
- Eating disorders
- ADHD
How do we support children with needs in this area?
We are proud of our nurturing ethos at Hatch Ride. Children are able to explore worries with their teachers and other staff, as well as more specific interventions described below. We use the Jigsaw whole school programme for PSHE lessons. We also have an annual Healthy Minds week with different themes.
Targeted / Individualised Support:
Nurture Assistants
We have 3 trained nurture assistants in school. They provide emotional support for children and run blocks of weekly sessions with individual children.
Counselling
We have a trained counsellor who works within our school once a week.
Relax Kids
Sessions are offered as a weekly lunch time club
Attachment Support Sessions
One of our teaching assistants has additional training to run games to support attachment difficulties.
What can you do at home?
If you think your child might need help with their social, emotional, and mental health needs at home you can support them in the following ways:
- Recognise when your child may be anxious, worried stressed or experiencing other SEMH difficulties to see what triggers this behaviour.
- Try to be calm, consistent and celebrate positives
- Provide emotional warmth to make others feel secure. Be understanding and reassuring
- Acknowledge feelings
- Listen to relaxing music or meditations, such as mindfulness.
- Use of apps for relaxation and mindfulness techniques