Our Pastoral Team is based in The Rainbow Room which provides a safe and calm environment to support and nurture children’s social, emotional and mental health and helping them to become emotionally and mentally resilient. The Pastoral Team support children by listening, talking and problem solving or using interventions like the ones listed below. This can involve individual support or small groups and gives children the opportunity to express themselves.

Parental support is also offered through referrals to outside agencies, parent courses to support children’s learning and coffee afternoons which we aim to hold half termly.

Rainbow Room Staff

• Karen Brooks – Pastoral Lead and Young Carers Champion
• Jenie Vaughan-Wright – Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA)
• Lucy Voice – Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA)
• Sarah Chapman – Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA)

Interventions

• Nurture and Chat Time
• Time Out
• Social Skills
• Friendship Support
• Lego Therapy (Communication and Teamwork)
• Speech and Language (with support from Speech and Language Therapists)
• Anger Management
• Breakfast Club (Invitation Only)
• Feelings Work

The Parent Hub

Suffolk County Council's Parent Hub provides a single place for Suffolk parents or carers to find parenting advice and support to help their child's development.

Parenting Programmes

Parenting programmes are run by Suffolk County Council and partner organisations in the voluntary and community sector. You can find out more about them on Suffolk’s Parenting Programmes Overview. The programmes bring experienced workers, parents and carers together to:

• discuss issues
• share concerns
• gain practical advice and information

You can follow Suffolk Parenting Hub on Facebook.

PACT (Parents and Carers Together)

PACT began in 2013 when two local parents realised they shared concern for children and young people experiencing mental health issues in Suffolk. After meeting up regularly and offering support over coffee, PACT was established to help locate, support and maintain the ongoing wellbeing of other parents and carers in similar positions. PACT believes that through offering a safe space to listen and support (with no judgement), providing training resources and welcoming a variety of guest speakers with appropriate knowledge and experience we will enable and empower parents to continue to support the wellbeing of our children and young people as well as ourselves.

Bereavement Support

St Elizabeth Hospice’s 565 Service provides emotional support for children, young people and families living with a family member with progressive illness. The service also provides bereavement support following the loss of a loved one, via family meetings, one to one counselling and group work.

The school has completed St Elizabeth Hospice’s Dying to Talk programme which encourages young people to have open conversations about end-of-life and bereavement. Part of St Elizabeth Hospice’s 565 Service, which provides emotional and bereavement support for children, young people and families living with a family member with progressive illness, Dying to Talk is a training programme which raises standards in conversations about end-of-life and awareness around bereavement and support services available.

The St Elizabeth Hospice website has lots of useful information tailored for parents, schools and children, including a range of activities suitable for people of younger ages.

Useful Websites

There is a list of useful websites to support children’s wellbeing on our SEND Report.

Page reviewed on 18/08/24 by KJD.