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The Bridge – A supportive provision for children with SEMH needs within St Mark’s CofE Primary School
‘The Bridge’ Resourced Provision is a supportive specialist provision for up to seven children who have a primary need of social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs on their EHC plan. We provide each child with support from an excellent team of LSAs within their classroom or, at times, in the Bridge suite of rooms if required.
We passionately believe that with the right support in place to meet the needs of any child, great things can be achieved and our teachers, LSAs and Bridge staff work hard to personalise the provision given to each and every child we welcome.
It is our vision to support children with SEMH needs to become effective, self-regulated, motivated members of their school and community. We aim to ensure each and every child has a sense of belonging to our community and are able to access the specialist support they need to learn. We want them to learn to become the very best they can be as well as providing them with the strategies they need to deal with their sometimes overwhelming emotions. We strive to support them through personalised, child-centred learning and behaviour plans so they can access a full and inspiring mainstream education and go on to lead happy, safe and enriching lives.
The Curriculum
The majority of our children spend their time within their class supported by our skilled LSAs but they also have the opportunity to complete their work within the provision, if needed, when things get too much in the classroom. Every child has a personalised learning and behaviour plan which enables them to develop both their academic and social skills according to their own needs. We also work closely with each child to develop their social, emotional and mental health needs through a variety of individual and group programs to build their self-esteem and emotional resilience.
Staffing
Our children deserve the absolute best teaching and support staff. The Bridge is managed by Joanna Heels who has a wealth of experience in supporting children with additional needs. She is supported by her highly effective and passionate team of LSAs who have a variety of different strengths and skills in supporting children with special educational needs.
We are dedicated to supporting each child with the provision they need and value the professional development of our Bridge Team. Training sessions are held every Tuesday, after school, to keep our skills, talents and strengths up-to-date and effective. We offer our team training in Team Teach, Sensory Integration, Speech and Language, Autism, ADHD and Zones of Regulation alongside more specific training that may be required for an individual child such as ELKAN.
We also have links with other resourced provisions in Hampshire, SEMH special schools, Primary Behaviour Support, Occupational Therapists and Speech and Language Therapists who help to ensure the provision we are providing for each child is highly successful in meeting their needs.
Extra Curricula Activities
We aim to ensure that children are able to access clubs and extra curricula activities where appropriate. Risk assessments are made with the involvement of parents and carers to ensure the safety of each child and to determine any specialist provision that may be needed. This includes our Y6 residential trip.
Home and School Links
We value parental input in all aspects of a child’s learning and support. It is a crucial part of their success and we work hard to ensure every parent feels listened to and supported with their child. We provide information for parents through telephone conversations, emails and face to face meetings when required and have an open-door policy. We firmly believe that parents know their children best and can be a wealth of information in helping to support a child successfully.
We offer parental training to help make the link between home and school more consistent for the child. We offer training in Zones of Regulation, Sensory Integration, Social Communication and Co-regulation.
Alongside our parental training, we also offer at least three social events across the year for parents and their children including our Christmas Market, Easter Egg Hunt and Summer Picnic. We know that meeting other parents who have children with similar needs can be hugely beneficial and these events help to form life-long support networks and friendships.