Supporting pupil emotional wellbeing in lockdown and returning to school/settings

On January 4^th the Government requested that schools close for the majority of pupils, apart from for vulnerable pupils and children of key workers. Schools across West Sussex responded with the same professionalism and commitment as in the first lockdown back in March 2020.

Many pupils and staff may be experiencing anxiety and/or low mood as a result of loss or the ongoing uncertainty. Although it is not yet clear when the majority of pupils will be returning to school, you might find it useful to access many of the resources developed by WSCC to support pupil emotional wellbeing as you continue to offer support to families remotely and begin planning for the return to school.

The WSCC Educational Psychology Team developed guidance with links to useful resources which is available on West Sussex Services for Schools

You can hear how one school used a range of WSCC resources to plan their emotional wellbeing support for pupils returning to school in our Tools for Schools Celebration of Inclusion

There are two further resources that will also be of help at this challenging time:

The West Sussex Education for Safeguarding (E4S) curriculum has been developed in partnership between WSCC School Effectiveness, Contextual Safeguarding team and Public Health to support schools and settings to meet the Department for Education’s statutory requirement to develop and embed a universal needs-based Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum. The E4S curriculum is designed to enable schools to develop a needs based curriculum for all its pupils and the online toolkit contains a wealth of free to access resources including emotional health and wellbeing resource cards.

Tools for Schools is a website that has been developed with schools, settings, parent carers and professionals. The website provides schools and settings with information and advice on how the additional needs of children and young people can be met. The social, emotional and mental health section and the wellbeing in West Sussex section include links to relevant information and advice.

There are also several teams within WSCC for schools to contact for additional advice and support including:

The Educational Psychology Team

The SEND and Inclusion Link Advisory Team:

(North) Claire Prince

(Mid) Gemma Humphrey

(West) Louise Burgess

(South) Rachel Mcdonald-Taylor

The Autism and Social Communication Team

The Learning and Behaviour Advisory Team

The Sensory Support Team

The School Effectiveness Team:

General enquiries: