This is a six session fully planned EBSA intervention. EBSA is emotionally based school avoidance. This intervention is for working one to one with a pupil that has difficulties in coming to school or staying in school. It is aimed at KS2 and could also be used with Year 2 pupils.
It covers areas such as anxiety, the CBT cycle, exploring the perfect day at school, what pushes them into school and what pulls them away from school, what is safety and feeling safe? Pupil led plan on returning or staying in school. Emotions and relaxation are included along with work on strengths to help raise confidence and self-esteem.
Included in the EBSA intervention:
Planning booklet with 6 fully planned sessions
6 warmup activities based on strengths
6 relaxation exercises using visualisations
Emotions check in with resources to cover aspects of emotional literacy
Comic strip and callouts for spotting anxiety
Comic strip and callouts for the perfect day at school
CBT cycle pack
Safety shield resource
Anxiety thermometer
Safety scale
Pushing and pulling resource pack with visual, worksheets and scenario cards
Attending school questions and a pupil led plan
This growth mindset intervention can be run as a whole class, or group. The lessons will take 40 mins to an hour and are suitable for children from about 7 years old.
Learning Objectives:
M – I understand how making MISTAKES can help me learn.
I – I understand how seeing success can INSPIRE me.
N – I understand the importance of the words ‘NOT YET‘.
D – I understand what it means to be DETERMINED.
S – I can celebrate SUCCESS and understand how that makes me feel.
E – I understand that EVERYONE is different but that EVERYONE has the potential to succeed.
T – I know how important it is to THINK positively and have a ‘can do’ attitude to learning.
Included in the pack:
7 lessons, each corresponding to a letter from ‘MINDSET’.
‘A mistake that made my brain sparkle and grow’ worksheet.
‘Who inspires you? Who is your hero?’ worksheet.
‘My Goal’ worksheet
‘Questionnaire’ and ‘Bookmarks’.
‘What have you been successful at?’ worksheet.
2 different puzzle pieces
Everyone is different poster
Display heading
Rubbish bin/Treasure chest
Positive/negative cards for sorting
Mindset certificate
7 Posters 'Mindset'
This covers:
Skills
Luck
Feelings around winning and losing
Poor sports
Cheating
Sportsmanship
Making a Loser Plan
Cheating
The PowerPoint makes this available to whole classes or groups but also works well with individuals.
This resource pack contains the following:
PowerPoint show – you can use this for individual, group or whole class. When used for individual, you can act as the partner.
PDF of the show – so you can print it out if you need to or if you don’t have a computer or Whiteboard to work on.
Supporting worksheets
The powerpoint has 14 slides
The ‘Feel the Feels’ range of resources are aimed at older pupils and therefore are suitable for secondary children. They use a range of clipart of teens/preteens.
This is a bingo set which can be used for emotions work. This set contains the following emotions/feelings/conditions –
annoyed, furious, hyper, proud, depressed, stressed, shocked, excited, silly,
This Friendship Scenarios Pack contains a variety of Friendship Scenarios, along with solutions, activities, and reflective tools to help pupils explore and understand friendship dynamics. These resources are designed to empower you to guide pupils through challenging social situations, assisting them in identifying and expressing their emotions, understanding others’ perspectives, and practising problem-solving in a safe, supportive environment. This resource is suitable for KS2 and Secondary pupils (There are just one or two that wouldn’t be suitable).
The scenarios in this pack are carefully crafted to be flexible, allowing you to tailor your approach to meet the unique needs of each child. For instance, you may choose to use these scenarios in one-to-one sessions or in small group activities. Additionally, you can incorporate them into your regular emotional literacy sessions, reinforcing the importance of friendship, empathy, and communication. Ultimately, these scenarios are meant to be adaptable to different contexts and group dynamics.
These include:
30 Friendship Scenarios: Each scenario offers a choice of 3 possible solutions. One solution is a good choice, one is acceptable, and one is not ideal.
Reflection Prompts: Thought-provoking questions that help pupils gain a deeper understanding of the situation and themselves.
Friendship Fix-It Tools: A collection of strategies designed to help pupils build and maintain stronger friendships.
Empathy Boosters: Simple yet effective suggestions for developing and enhancing empathy.
Role Play Instructions: Step-by-step guidance on using the cards for role-play exercises, which are especially useful for group work.
Coping Strategies: Practical ideas to help pupils cope with the emotional challenges that arise in friendship conflicts.
Friendship Qualities: A list of essential qualities that make someone a good friend. Which qualities are being displayed in the scenarios? Which qualities could be improved?
Assertiveness Tools: Approaches to help pupils develop and demonstrate more assertive behaviours in their friendships.
Traffic Light Problem-Solving: A visual traffic light tool to assist pupils in making informed decisions when faced with friendship issues.
Friendship Fix-It Wheel: A simple yet effective visual tool that offers 4 key suggestions when dealing with friendship problems.
My Friendship Scenario: An opportunity for pupils to reflect on and work through their own real-life friendship dilemmas.
Feelings: Visual characters that can help pupils express and discuss their feelings in greater depth.
Emotional Scale: A tool for scaling the intensity of emotions, helping pupils better understand the strength of their feelings.
This intervention is for a group of six girls and is led by an ELSA or teaching assistant. It covers emotions, relaxation, calming down techniques and learning objectives around assertiveness for girls. It runs for approximately 40-60 minutes, weekly for six weeks. Children will learn about emotions during each session and will also learn relaxation and calming techniques through the ‘relaxation time’. This knowledge and these skills will help them to become more emotionally literate. The warm-up games teach a variety of skills such as co-operation, team work, taking turns, communication skills, friendship, self-esteem and confidence. The coming together of a group fosters a sense of belonging and therefore raises self-esteem. Every opportunity should be taken to promote belonging and friendship.
The age range for this intervention would be approximately year 3 upwards and should be aimed at quiet, shy girls who lack confidence and self-esteem.
The pack contains the following:
Planning booklet with 6 fully planned sessions
Circle time rules posters
Shout out reflection sheet
Feelings wheel
Certificate
Assertiveness list
Passive list
Aggressive list
Assertiveness comic strip
Passive comic strip
Aggressive comic strip
Assertive communication poster
Strengths shield
Strength cards
Problem cards
Target setting sheet
Visuals for mindfulness
This EBSA workbook School difficulties has been created with valuable help from the members of the ELSA Support Facebook Group who provided some of the difficulties their pupils face. It relies on real life situations that pupils have found difficult about coming to school. ELSAs are often on the front line trying to help pupils back into school and to work on their difficulties.
The booklet is aimed from Year 3 to Year 6 but could also be used with Year 2 with support.
We also have EBSA workbook school thoughts and feelings and EBSA Workbook Coping with school worries on the website.
EBSA is Emotionally based school avoidance. Pupils who struggle to come to school or are non attenders. This might have an emotional cause or a mental health cause.
The activity consists of a sorting board, cards with suggestions, cards for pupils to write their own, an exploration board, a feelings board with scales and changes and what they want to happen to make things feel ok.
This activity will help pupils to identify what is bothering them at school and how to reduce that feeling by changing the situation.
Start by printing out the base board and cutting up the cards. Print out a blank sheet so the pupil can add their own if they want to. Help the pupil sort the cards between things that are ok, things they are unsure of and things that are not ok.
Once you have done that choose one of the things that are not ok and look at it further.
Help the pupil break it down to see if you can find out what the actual issue is.
Example might be ‘seating plan’ that is not ok.
What is it about the seating plan that is not ok? Is it that they are sitting next to someone they don’t like? Perhaps they can’t hear the teacher? Perhaps they are uncomfortable and there might be a draft or a bright light bothering them. They might prefer to be sitting with a friend. Perhaps someone copies off them or talks to them and they don’t like that. Try and help the pupil to break down the difficulty.
Once they have the root cause of their difficulty, help them to identify how it makes them feel. Can they put a name to that feeling? How big is that feeling?
There is a sheet for pupil voice to say what changes need to happen for them to be ok. They can write it or you can write it for them and they can tell you what needs to change. There is also a daily sheet for pupils to write down anything that they think of or that crops up for them.
There are also some additional supporting resources included in the pack
This is the first workbook in the EBSA Workbook Range.
Suggested benefits include:
Concentration and attention span – it is so easy to get completely engrossed in your design
Thinking skills – thinking what pattern to do next, what will look good!
Mindfulness – a sense of mindfulness and being completed absorbed in the activity
Relaxation – a true sense of relaxation as you are only thinking about your patterns
Hand eye co-ordination – speaks for itself, try it!
Self-esteem – creating something beautiful that looks amazing!
Stress relief – if you feel stressed give it a go. You will be amazed
Self soothing – it is such a soothing activity and if you feel upset or anxious it will make you feel better
Ok to make mistakes – your mistakes can be incorporated into your design
Problem solving – how can you incorporate your mistakes into your design?
Fine motor skills – making those tiny patterns
Nurturing creative abilities – allowing everyone to be creative
Expanding your imagination – let your imagination go and just create!
Creative expression – allows you to create your own design and express yourself
Great fun!
Simple to learn – each stroke of the pen or pencil is simple
No planned outcome – you don’t know yet how your design will end up.
Included in the pack:
35 shapes all sectioned off
32 of those shapes all blank for pupils to section off
26 Letters of the alphabet sectioned off
26 Letters of the alphabet left blank for pupil to section off
A great way to learn about emotions.
What it looks like, synonyms, what you might say, what you might think, what causes it and how to cope with it.
20 Emotions covered and a blank template to use as a worksheet so you can write and draw other emotions.
There are 40 brightly coloured cards showing ways to be a good friend. Perfect for KS1 and Lower KS2.
Use these as discussion or teaching points on how to be a good friend.
This self-care potion activity is a fun and engaging for pupils to look at all the things that help with their self-care. There are two potion bottles to choose from. Print out a bottle and print out the pocket. Cut them out carefully and stick the pocket to the bottle.
Print out and cut out some of the droplets of potion.
Firstly go through the list with the pupil and get them to write their ideas on one of the sheets. They can add any others not on the list here too. When they have a decent amount they can then fill in their droplets and add them to the pocket of the potion bottle.
If they aren’t too keen on all the writing they can go straight to filling in the droplets with prompting from you, using the self-care list. You know your pupils so do what you think is best.
Suitable for practically all age groups.
Included in the pack:
2 different potion bottles
Pocket label for the bottles
List of self-care ideas
3 different sheets for pupils to record ideas first
8 coloured potion droplets
All available in black and white too
This is their recipe for self-care.
This is a friendship potion activity for young children. It is visually appealing with clear images to help the pupils understand the words.
Make up the cauldron and bin with the pockets. Cut out and laminate the bubble circles. Simply help the pupil sort out those good qualities for a friend and put them into the cauldron to make their friendship potion. All the others go into the bin. Discuss each bubble as you look at it to ensure understanding and relate to the pupil’s experience where possible.
When you have finished the sorting activity ask the pupil to decorate the body shape to look like a friend and put all the bubbles around the body shape to reinforce ‘What makes a good friend’.
Included in the friendship potion activity pack:
Cauldron with pocket
Bin with pocket
18 positive bubbles for friendship
18 negative bubbles for friendship
Body sheet
This resource is ideal for working one to one with a child. The red light is the negative emotion such as anger, frustration, fear, worry, sad and upset. The green light is the positive emotion such as happy, chilled, content, ok, calm, and confident. The amber/yellow light is all the things the child can do to help get from the red light to the green light. These are the tools.
Make sure you go through the resource with the child and decide which ‘tools’ they need to use or try.
Print and laminate this resource, Cut out the cards and keep in a little zip folder, Use either velcro or blu tak to stick the cards onto the base board.
If you need the cards to be bigger just print all of it onto A3 paper and laminate.
This is our secondary friendship pack.
Friendships play a crucial role in the lives of secondary school students. As teens navigate changes, social pressures, and personal growth, having supportive and trustworthy friendships is essential for emotional well-being. Our Secondary Friendship Pack is designed to help students develop positive relationship skills, set healthy boundaries, and handle challenges like conflict resolution and peer pressure.
This comprehensive pack includes a variety of worksheets and activities tailored to the needs of secondary students. Some of the sheets might be useful for mature KS2 pupils too.
Perfect for use by ELSAs, teachers, and counsellors, this pack provides the tools to support teens in developing and maintaining meaningful friendships that will last a lifetime. Help students strengthen their social skills and navigate the complexities of secondary school friendships with confidence.
These activities are great for working one to one with a pupil or you could use them as a basis for a lesson with a group or class.
Included in the Secondary friendship pack:
What is friendship?
Friendship circles
Friendship qualities
Starting conversations
Practising conversations
Active listening
What is trust?
What are boundaries?
Conflict resolution
Conflict scenarios
Conflict
Making amends
Assertive communication
Peer pressure
Healthy or toxic friendships
Strengthening friendships fact sheet
Strengthening your friendships
Friendship positive affirmations
Social media friendships
A to z of friendship
20 useful worksheets in the pack.
This gratitude jar will help children look for the positives in their lives. Gratitude according to Positive psychology is strongly linked to being happy. I have done lots of jar activities but think that gratitude is such an important one so deserves its own post.
This resources has a jar with and without lines. It also has a long list of suggestions/prompts to encourage children to reflect on things they are grateful or thankful for.
The jar without lines can be decorated with pictures, photographs and words. Make it colourful. It could also be used each day and the child adds just one thing for that day they are grateful or thankful for.
Of course you could make an actual jar with a lovely label and ask the child to fill it each day with things they are grateful for.
This challenge has been made for Children’s mental health week on the theme of ‘EXPRESS YOURSELF’
It is a printable 5 day challenge with a drawing/writing task and a doing/talking task each day. There is a certificate for the end of the 5 days.
This is a memory wheel for transition and can be used for any age group.
Pupils can draw their memories of the past year. This offers a multitude of benefits for their personal and emotional development. This creative exercise allows children to visually express their experiences, enhancing their ability to recall and articulate important moments. By drawing their memories, pupils engage in a reflective practice that fosters self-awareness and helps them appreciate their achievements and growth over the year.
Artistic expression through drawing can also be therapeutic, providing a safe outlet for pupils to process and communicate their emotions. This can be particularly beneficial for those who might find it difficult to express their feelings verbally. Additionally, the memory wheel serves as a visual diary, capturing a snapshot of their year that they can look back on, reinforcing positive experiences and milestones.
Sharing their memory wheel for transition with peers and teachers can strengthen social connections and build a sense of community. It encourages pupils to listen to others’ experiences, fostering empathy and understanding. The activity can boost confidence as children take pride in their artwork and the memories they’ve chosen to highlight.
Overall, the memory wheel activity is a powerful tool for promoting emotional well-being, enhancing memory retention, and encouraging a positive outlook on personal growth and achievements.
Empathy is a very difficult thing to learn for children and this lapbook will help to teach the skills needed. I have named it ‘Kindness’ because being empathetic is about being kind isn’t it? Caring about other people’s feelings and wanting to help them in some way.
Children will learn how to recognise their own feelings and the feelings of others. They will learn to look at different perspectives and how to get the full picture. The vocabulary of pity, empathy, sympathy and compassion will be taught. Children will look at ways of showing that they care and will become ‘care collectors’ – they will collect times when they showed kindness and times when they received kindness. This will help them to see that it actually feels good to be kind and caring. Basic listening skills will be taught so that they know how to listen to someone who might have a problem.
This resource will help to develop children's growth mindset as well as help them risk assess a situation. Children need to look at their mistakes, find out what they learnt by that mistake, understand the consequences and have another go or don't have another go depending on what has been learnt. Equally children do need to assess the risks of an activity they are doing to make sure they do not hurt themselves and to give a bit more thought into what they are doing. They need to understand the consequences of their mistake.
Included in the resource:
A game board
18 mistake scenario cards
10 ideas for using the mistake cards
worksheets to go with those ideas