Our students join us for a range of reasons and each has their own individual history and needs.
What all of our students have in common is that they struggled to access mainstream school, experiencing Social, Emotional or Mental Health issues which frequently led to challenging behaviour. Being excluded from mainstream school can have a significant impact upon a young person’s self-image and self-esteem and our students often arrive at the ELC with very negative views of education, of their own prospects and all too often of themselves.
At Coventry ELC we do not simply address the challenging behaviours on the surface, we work to resolve the root causes of the issues.
Our Pastoral Care
Effective pastoral care is key to enhancing the futures of our young people. At the ELC we understand that the only way to effect lasting change is to work on the root causes of a young person’s issues, rather than simply addressing the symptoms. For instance, it is far more effective to help someone to resolve the reasons why they get angry rather than simply teaching them how to calm down when they are angry. We therefore assess all pupils on entry to identify any underlying issues, which we can then address through targeted interventions.
Pastoral Managers
Both of our sites have dedicated Pastoral Managers. Their role is to oversee all pastoral care for our students, including co-ordinating key workers.
SEMH Coaches
Our SEMH Coaches contribute to improving outcomes for students by providing support, guidance and supervision, with a focus on SEMH interventions. They identify students’ underlying needs/issues using a range of assessment tools, then provide mentoring/coaching to support students in addressing these needs/issues.
Key workers
All students are allocated a key worker from our staff (teachers and support staff).
Key workers deliver the following roles:
- Acting as the main contact to ensure effective partnership working with staff, parents/carers and relevant agencies.
- Taking a lead role in co-ordinating bespoke support for specified students.
- Maintain accurate, up-to-date records
- Understanding and addressing every individual student’s learning needs, including SEND
- Understanding and addressing every individual student’s SEMH needs
- Attendance monitoring and action
- Enabling/promoting student voice
- Positive, assertive and consistent application of the ELC Behaviour System
- Tracking progress against key performance indicators
Mentoring / SEMH intervention
Each student can access mentoring from their key worker. In addition, students can access support from their Key Worker and other members of staff during social times and as necessary throughout the working day.