The Elaine Education Centre is a specialist provision that supports children who have challenges that can impact on their learning, specialising in Social, Emotional & Mental Health; we can cater for up to 24 primary aged pupils who have an Educational Health Care Plan.  Our aim is to enable pupils to develop skills and strategies to manage their behaviour and successfully reintegrate into mainstream school, if this is an appropriate next step. Our EEC and Nurture Provision was recognised as an Area of Excellence by Challenge Partners in 2020.

Elaine Education Centre Vision Statement

The Elaine Education Centre provides a supportive and caring environment for learning, nurturing moral values and outstanding teaching, designed to help our pupils achieve their personal best. 

Challenging academic standards, together with a thorough preparation for future education and the world of work, are underpinned by an ethos of concern for others, unselfish attitudes and an awareness of the rights and responsibilities of a good citizen.

The diverse range of activities, broad curriculum and differentiated planning nurture the self-confidence of our pupils, and help the development of their personality, engendering also lifelong interests and stimulating a desire to serve the community.

At The Elaine Education Centre we are proud to provide a safe, stimulating and challenging learning environment where every pupil is respected and valued. We celebrate our achievements and together we take pride in making a positive contribution to our school, trust and the wider community.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Our Curriculum

We have created our own bespoke SEMH curriculum to support our learners. We ensure that the core texts are a suitable reading level for children whilst still supporting the global theme and they have access to daily reading, maths and English lessons. We also provide children with access to the rest of the wider curriculum, as well as specific SEMH lessons.

We have 3 classes in our EEC provision:

• Oak Class which supports children to access a Lower Key Stage 2 Curriculum
• Elm Class which supports children to access an Upper Key Stage 2 Curriculum
• Ash Class which acts as a nurture class to support children who may be ready to engage in mainstream reintegration. This class follows a Lower Key Stage 2 Curriculum but this can change depending on the children accessing this classroom. 

Understanding the needs of pupils with Social, Emotional and Mental Health Issues:

The school understands that, because of their special educational needs or disabilities, some students may act in ways that can be socially inappropriate, disruptive or dangerous. A young person with an Autistic Spectrum Condition may not have developed Theory of Mind and therefore is unlikely to manipulate situations, lie or have intent or empathy. For such a young person, challenging behaviour should not routinely be interpreted through intuition based on understanding of ‘typical development’

If pupils do present with behaviours that challenge adults, the onus is on the adult to interpret the child’s communication.  Our staff are familiar with clear guidance and strategies to support the development of positive and safe behaviour, all staff are ‘Team Teach’ trained and may use positive handling techniques to keep everybody in The Elaine Education Centre safe.

If anything you see causes any concern then please do not hesitate to discuss this with a senior member of staff.

Our behaviour, nurture and supportive curriculum

It is our priority to ensure children have the opportunity to learn and to make progress, it is imperative that we work with our pupils to address any identified need and how that can present a barrier to their learning.  Once identified, we use a number of strategies to support improvements throughout each day and as part of our curriculum:

• Assemblies – We have daily assemblies that promote positive behaviour, rewarding effort and exploring our key theme and aspiration of ‘Impeccable’ behaviour, we explore empathy, integrity, honesty, respect, social skills and values
• Lessons – Behaviour for learning is the ‘golden thread’ that underpins our core ethos, pupils are supported to understand the triggers that can form barriers to displaying appropriate learning behaviours – We follow a PSHE programme that promotes self-awareness and the need for us to work together to overcome challenges and barriers to progress
• Self-reflection & accountability – These are tools that we teach and use constantly, mistakes are part of our everyday learning experiences, how pupils respond to and reflect on setbacks is a key indicator for how we support pupils to find appropriate strategies to be able to manage behaviour and emotions
• Break times – This could previously have been a challenging part of the day for many pupils, we use this as an opportunity to engage with pupils in positive activities, breaking the cycle of not being able to control any established behaviours.  We explore some of the key trigger points that can lead to negative behaviour e.g: competition, choosing sides, sharing – we aim to facilitate cooperative and fun activities that engage pupils and enable them to have time out and reflection periods should they need this – most of our pupils lack the capacity to cope in these situations, so a key part of our work is unpicking the issues to enable us to find appropriate coping skills that will enable them to look towards re-integration
• Educational Visits – We use these to assess and model expectations of being out in public, discussing positive strategies and exploring what is appropriate and how others could perceive any negative behaviour – We support pupils to better understand how to use public transport, ensuring that key life skills form part of our wider programme
• Nurture Groups – Our staff are experienced in supporting small groups of children to develop their social and emotional skills in a safe and secure environment, our activities are carefully planned and focus on developing language skills, empathy and promoting positive behaviour.