We provide specialist teaching services to help meet the needs of children and young people with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs. We provide SEMH specialist teaching to all education settings from nursery aged through to A Level.
What is specialist teaching of social, emotional and mental health (SEMH)?
Specialist teaching of SEMH supports the learning of individuals who have SEMH needs through teaching useful strategies, such as; social skills, emotional wellbeing, and mental health. SEMH needs may manifest through challenging behaviour, anxiety or low mood, to name but a few examples. Our specialist teachers maximise the potential of children and young people by working with them to overcome these barriers, and through advising education staff on how best to support identified individuals.
Social, emotional and mental health difficulties
Children and young people may experience a wide range of social and emotional difficulties which manifest themselves in many ways. These may include becoming withdrawn or isolated, as well as displaying challenging, disruptive or disturbing behaviour. These behaviours may reflect underlying mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harming, substance misuse, eating disorders or physical symptoms that are medically unexplained. Other children and young people may have disorders such as attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder or attachment disorder.
SEND code of practice (2015)
What specialist teaching services do we offer in relation to SEMH?
Our specialist teachers offer the following services in relation to SEMH:
- Screening
- Assessment
- 1-to-1 intervention
- Group intervention
- Consultancy
- Training for school staff
- Whole school work
Services are bespoke according to needs and requirements, and are tailored to meet each individual child’s particular needs.
Where a child continues to make less than expected progress, despite evidence-based support and interventions that are matched to the child's area of need, practitioners should consider involving appropriate specialists, for example, health visitors, speech and language therapists, Portage workers, educational psychologists or specialist teachers, who may be able to identify effective strategies, equipment, programmes or other interventions to enable the child to make progress towards the desired learning and development outcomes.
SEND code of practice (2015)
What interventions and groups can our SEMH specialist teachers provide?
Our specialist SEMH teachers provide individual interventions and group work to support a variety of SEMH needs. Common interventions and groups include:
- Nurture groups
- Social skills
- Resilience
- Decreasing anxiety
- Understanding and managing emotions
- Taking ownership of behaviour
- Using strengths
- Mindfulness
- Anti-bullying
- Lego Therapy
- Peer mentoring
- Increasing self-esteem
- CBT Strategies for panic attacks
The above list is not exhaustive as there are many set interventions and groups available, in addition to bespoke support designed according to identified needs.
What do I do if I think my child needs this support?
If you have concerns about the social, emotional and mental health of your child you should speak with their class teacher (for Primary aged children) or the school’s SENCo. If your child is secondary aged, there will be a Pastoral Support Team or Year Head. Your child will also have a Tutor whom they meet with each day as part of a class. It is this Pastoral Team (along with the SENCo if SEMH is identified) who are responsible for taking care of your child’s wellbeing. If you are unsure who to contact the School’s Reception Team should be able to advise you.
SEMHL Specialist Teachers work for Coventry City Council as part of a Traded Service. This means each school buys a package of care from them and are therefore responsible for deciding who is seen by the SEM & L Team. This process takes place termly during a Planning meeting between the School’s SENCo and their allocated Specialist Teacher from SEMH&L. Referrals cannot be made directly to SEMH&L staff by parents.