Pastoral Team
Welcome to the Pastoral Page
If your child is receiving pastoral support, you will find lots of useful links and resources on this page.
Meet The Team
Ms Abell (SENCO and DSL)
Mrs Wilkinson (Learning Mentor / DSL)
Ms O'Neill (DSL)
⭐ New at Elms Farm ⭐
If you fall into financial difficulty, please contact a member of the Pastoral Team and they will be able to provide a food parcel and household items for you. We can be discreet!
All we ask is that, if you ask for support with a food parcel, you donate £1 or £2 to be given to a local Sheldon Homeless Charity.
⭐ Important Online Safety Information ⭐
Whilst our school has comprehensive safeguarding arrangements in place to ensure our pupils’ online safety, it is equally as important for parents to talk to their children about online safety and monitor their internet usage at home, using age-appropriate parental controls to restrict their access to unsavoury material. Parental controls can be activated on home broadband, search engines, YouTube, mobile phones and games consoles.
If you are concerned that your child is being secretive or spending too much time online, it may be worth moving their computer into a communal family area so that you can keep an eye on them.
You should encourage your child to act responsibly online, and treat others as they would wish to be treated. You should also warn your child that they should never hide behind an anonymous user name to make unkind comments, or say something they would be reluctant to repeat during face-to-face interactions. Remind your child that the comments they make and the pictures and videos they post online may end up having a wider audience than they anticipated – and even if they delete them, there’s no guarantee that someone hasn’t already saved, downloaded or taken a screen shot of their post.
Children under the age of 13 should not be using social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok – this is stipulated in the sites’ terms and conditions – but it easy for them to set up an account by claiming to be older than they actually are. If your child does have a Facebook or other social media account, it is important to encourage them to use enhanced privacy settings, so that only their friends are able to search for them and see what they are posting. Warn your child that they must never accept friend requests from strangers or people they don’t know very well. You should also encourage your child to accept you, or a trusted friend/relative, as their “friend” or “follower,” as this will enable you to monitor – at least to some extent – their online posts, conversations, and the friends they are choosing to accept.
Parents should also be aware that content filters may not always work if a child is using public Wi-Fi, so it is important to ensure their access to unprotected Wi-Fi is limited.
If your child has been targeted online, the website Internet Matters offers detailed advice about who to report the incident to. Links to other websites that you may find useful are included below:
- DfE Advice for Parents on Cyberbullying
- Cyberbullying and children and young people with SEN and disabilities
- Get Safe Online
- The UK Safer Internet Centre
- The Use of Social Media for Online Radicalisation (Home Office, 2015)
- NSPCC Online Safety
- StaySafe Online
- Staying Safe on Facebook
- ChildLine Online Safety
- YouTube Safety Mode
- Google Safe Search
- CEOP Safety Centre
⭐ Online Learning ⭐
📝 Popular Social Media Sites and Games - Safety Guidelines 📝
👨🏻🏫 Top Tips for Home Learning 👩🏻🏫
🧘♀️ Wellbeing and Mindfulness 🧘♂️
Remote Learning
🏋️♀️ Exercise 🏋️
Regular exercise is not only great for keeping you fit and healthy but it can also improve your mood. During exercise, your body releases special chemicals that you help you feel happy and relaxed. There are different types of exercises that you can do in your home or near where you live. For example, you could go for a walk or a bike ride, practise some skipping or dance to your favourite songs!
Here are some great ideas of other ways that you can exercise at home:
Cosmic Kids Yoga
A great website full of videos that make Yoga fun for everyone.
Go Noodle
This gets children up and moving to fun. It allows children to wake up their bodies as well as engaging their minds.
BBC Super Movers
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers
These are videos to get your child up and moving, and linked to the curriculum. The can also be selected based on which key stage your child is in.
Joe Wicks PE Lessons
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxW1XT0iEJo0TYlRfn6rYQ?safe=true
The famous exercise guru Joe Wicks has created of PE lessons on his YouTube channel, for you to take part in.
🧠 Taking Care of your Mental Well-Being 🧠
Transition Back to School
💡 Helpful Links and Tips for Parents 💡
The Waiting Room - Birmingham and Solihull Health & Wellbeing services at your fingertips
Birmingham Connect to Support - Helping you to live well in Birmingham
Gov.uk - Financial help if you have children
🦠 Coronavirus 🦠
Activities and conversation starters during the coronavirus pandemic
Place2Be - Improving Children's Mental Health - News & Blogs
Bereavement Support
Winston's Wish - Supporting children through coronavirus
Hope Again - Young People Living After Loss
💬 Advice and Support 💬
Young Minds - Parents Survival Guide
Parent Kind - Helping Children Develop Emotional Literacy
Safer Internet - Parental Controls Offered by your Home Internet Provider
⭐ Reward Charts ✔️
Below are a variety of reward charts, these can be used at home to reinforce positive behaviour and can often help motivate children to complete tasks such as their homework or going to bed on time.