If a pupil becomes overwhelmed or unable to stay in class for any reason, this is not a problem. We encourage them to come to the ACE office with a member of staff. 

There, they can chat to our Assistant Head Lisa or SEND Manager Nat, who will then signpost them to an appropriate intervention. 

This may involve spending time with our onsite CAMHS staff, for example, or using the Wellbeing Room to undertake some activities designed to help them get back in the right frame of mind for learning and to regulate mood. These activities may include completing puzzles, using clay and play doh, craft activities and card games. 

We also have a small sensory room called The Snug, where pupils can tailor the level of sensory input they require, using lights, trampoline, punch bag and weighted items. Many of our pupils use the room to comfortably sit or lie in the dark with no lights on, and that is fine. One pupil at a time is allowed in this room.

Please find some links below to resources that may be of help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnrBrHJ7WNc  -regulation zones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zseDI1V-BqU – young people explain meltdowns

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/what-is-autism  -what is autism?

https://www.youngminds.org.uk/   -Young Minds

https://giveusashout.org/    – SHOUT free text service for Mental Health crisis support

We aim to support all pupils in using the techniques they might have been provided by other services previously, and to discover new strategies that might work for them. Our LSA Team are able to offer Lego Therapy, which has a plethora of current research backing, and Draw and Talk therapy, which is emerging as another beneficial tool with young people.

Drawing & Talking Therapy is delivered by our trained LSA Lucy Graham

Drawing and Talking therapy is an attachment-based therapeutic intervention designed to complement CAMHS and many other special therapies. This is a safe and gentle therapeutic approach providing an effective way for students to process any pain, trauma or anxiety they may be experiencing. Drawing and Talking is not intended to be used as a tool to ‘find out what is wrong’ or ‘why you are behaving like this’ but instead support the child to process any emotions they may be struggling to hold internally in a safe non-confrontational way whilst working at their own pace.  

Once consent is obtained, the child will agree with the drawing and talking practitioner a time and place to meet within school for 30 minutes each week where their session will be held privately. In these sessions the child will be asked to draw a picture of anything they want. The Practitioner will then encourage the child to talk about their picture using story-telling language to help them make sense of their internal world. All drawings and conversations are kept private and confidential for the 12 weeks until the end of the sessions and then they are free to take their folder of pictures away with them if they wish. Drawing and Talking therapy is the number one alternative to CBT and ACE are happy to be able to offer this support to students who may find this helpful. 

Research links:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8228619/  -another research paper on benefits of Lego Therapy

https://drawingandtalking.com/about-us  – What is Draw and Talk?

 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17454832.2020.1751219 —benefits of draw and talk