Supporting your child
There are many situations which can come along in life that your child may find challenging to deal with. This might include bereavements, family separations, or friendship difficulties.
At Carrington Junior School we are all here to support the children who attend school. If something has happened in your child's life that they are finding tricky, please let your child's class teacher know, or alternatively make a phone call to Mrs O'Leary, our family liaison worker. We will work with you to support your child as much as we can within the working day.
This support may take many forms, possibly including a named adult to talk to, support time with Mrs O'Leary (our family liaison worker), extra playtime support, young carers group, or referral to a counselling service. The majority of staff at Carrington Junior School have completed bereavement training and have ASD training at level 2 or above, and Mrs Cameron and Mrs Pusey have completed Mental Health First Aider training.
You might find the videos and articles on this link- from Place2Be; Parenting Smart- useful to support talking to your children at home about family situations.
Friendships
Children learn many things at school. One of the skills they develop at school are social skills linked to developing and maintaining friendships. Sometimes children develop really close friendships with a few children and sometimes they have a wider circle of friends- both of these situations are normal. It is also normal for children to make mistakes, say mean things and upset others as they learn what is and isn't appropriate, and manage their own feelings and disappointments.
When a friendship difficulty occurs we will look into it by asking all children involved what has happened - this may include children playing or sitting nearby. Children will always have the opportunity to share their account of events and will be asked neutral questions in a calm way. For example, children may be asked, "Can you explain what happened?" or "Can you tell me about ...the argument/ disagreement/what happened at the end of school ?". The incident will then be looked into and children might be supported to make apologies, or deal with differences of opinion. Where an incident is more serious it will then be dealt with in line with the effects of behaviour recorded in the behaviour policy.
Sharing information with school
Sometimes children don't say when there has been a disagreement or incident during the school day. This is because some children prefer to talk to a trusted adult at home first. If your child tells you about something that has upset or concerned them at school, please let your child's class teacher know as soon as possible so they can be supported and any incidents can be dealt with.
If you don't tell us about things that are worrying your child, it is possible we might not know, and we won't be able to support them. An incident is always easier to deal with near the time when it has happened- sometimes things are impossible to resolve weeks later.
