Testimonials from our ELSAs
What our ELSAs are saying…
I love that ELSA is an Educational Psychology led intervention. I really enjoyed working with the EPs throughout this course, and I’m really happy to know that there will be ongoing EP support and input from them through the regular, half termly supervision offered. I loved being able to look at, and pick up, lots of relevant resources that were suggested and brought along to the course by the trainers. Both Laura and Chantelle were excellent, informative and fun! The ELSA initiative is perfect for all schools, and especially ideal for Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) settings like ours! I am really excited that the ELSA initiative has now arrived in Brighton & Hove!
What I valued most about this course was the Educational Psychologists delivering it! The discussions with them were so informative, and all of the course content was delivered in a way that was so interesting and easy to absorb. The whole training is so relevant to children’s lives and experiences in our schools, and so it will be helpful to me at every level of my work. Laura and Chantelle were personable, relatable, likeable, patient and friendly, and they delivered the whole course at a perfect speed! I couldn’t recommend this particular course highly enough. All schools should have an ELSA as standard!
I really enjoyed the ELSA training and working with like-minded colleagues from other schools, putting the child at the centre of our thoughts and discussions. It was great to have lots of psychological theory, strategies and interventions shared with us, to help us in our work with children needing support for their emotional well-being. Laura and Chantelle, the EPs who are ELSA Trainers, were amazing! They are both very knowledgeable, and they were always open to listen to any comment and answer any question asked. I would say to any school that you should do this course and train up an ELSA as soon as possible! The more people we have sharing this knowledge and experience, the more children that will benefit! This was a fantastic course, I absolutely loved it, thank you!
I found all of the resources provided on this ELSA training course to be excellent! I really enjoyed learning all about developing children’s emotional awareness and working on the basic 6 emotions, and I think the on-going supervision that is provided is going to be so useful. Laura and Chantelle were excellent trainers and I really enjoyed the entire course. I loved the extra touches like the afternoon sweets and chocolate too! It is definitely worth doing this course!
It was great to collaborate with other school staff, and the EPs, on this ELSA course and share all of our ideas. I really enjoyed learning about all the psychology and research behind all the themes and topics taught. Chantelle and Laura were amazing trainers. It was extremely valuable and helpful to have great expertise, and such knowledgeable and friendly professionals to learn from. The ELSA training has given me so many skills to be able to offer additional emotional well-being support to our pupils.
I really enjoyed learning how to carry out the emotional literacy activities shared on this course, as well as how to use the suggested resources. Laura and Chantelle are excellent trainers, and they are brilliant to work with. They both shared their wealth of experience and knowledge, and it was such an invaluable opportunity to absorb all of this from them! This course is definitely worth it!
I really enjoyed the whole of my ELSA training course. I particularly found the ‘managing strong feelings’ topic so interesting and helpful! Laura and Chantelle were great, and I felt that I could ask for advice, and that any question I had was answered and explained really well. I think that training up an ELSA to work in your school is an absolute must for any school, and you should send as many staff as you can on this course because it is so beneficial!
I have really enjoyed learning the psychological theories that are relevant to emotional literacy. I have also valued meeting like-minded colleagues who are working in other local schools, and having the opportunity to share skills and good practice. I found it particularly interesting and helpful to learn about the different stages of the anger/anxiety cycle, as well as reflecting on the grief cycle and bereavement and loss on day 5 of the training. Chantelle and Laura made all of the training information interesting, helpful and relevant to working in a school setting. I would say to any other school that is thinking about training an ELSA to go ahead and book this course!
On this course, both Laura and Chantelle, really helped me understand the theories around children’s emotional and social well-being. The course also really helped me to feel more confident in my abilities to support the children I work with, through giving me the tools, strategies and knowledge of interventions that I need. Thank you so much for my ELSA training, it really has been such a great source of information to help with my work in school. This is such an effective initiative to promote children’s emotional health and well-being.
I really enjoyed learning about all of the psychology underpinning the ELSA role and finding out about all the resources I can bring to my work with children. Laura and Chantelle are both engaging and knowledgeable, getting across to us all, in a very clear, enjoyable and interactive way, what could have been quite challenging theory and information to understand. This training is very worthwhile, giving school staff the confidence to provide a safe environment to support children with emotional literacy needs. Thank you! I have learnt so much and I feel so much more confident now to carry out my ELSA role!
I loved this ELSA training course. I really enjoyed the content and all the learning I did. I felt like I had so many ‘lightbulb’ moments applying everything to the children I work with in my school. I really liked meeting and sharing with my colleagues in the group as well at the EPs. Laura and Chantelle were amazing. They were both warm, kind, funny and very knowledgeable. They made the whole group feel very comfortable. I would say to any other school thinking about training an ELSA to book this course now!
I really enjoyed learning all the psychological theory taught on this course, as well as having the opportunity to share good practice with my colleagues working in schools. Chantelle and Laura were amazing. They were super-engaging and knowledgeable, and they made the whole course fun and interactive, even during the challenging circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic! Definitely do this course. All staff working in schools could benefit from using an ELSA approach to their work!
I found it so helpful to have the opportunity on this ELSA training course to really think about how to manage certain situations and support children and develop their emotional literacy skills. It was really useful to find out about and see all the different resources available to support me in my ELSA work. I found it so interesting reflecting on how to manage strong feelings, such as anger, and how to unpick and think about the meaning behind behaviours. The EPs training us on this course were fabulous. They were kind, approachable and so knowledgeable! I would say to others thinking about training to be an ELSA to book this course. I have learnt so much and can see how my new found knowledge will be of real benefit in my work with children. This training has really changed the way I think when I’m working in my role in school. I have never learnt so much on a training course, and I believe that it is knowledge that will stay with me for life!
I really enjoyed learning about the psychological theory to understand the meaning behind behaviour. I also valued learning about new techniques, strategies and tools to use in my work with children to help them achieve the best possible outcomes. Everything shared on this course was helpful and gave me a lot to think about. The course was delivered with great planning, care and thought in the world of COVID-19. Working with Laura and Chantelle was excellent. They were both very friendly and approachable, and their delivery of the training materials was great. Every school should have at least one ELSA! This is the best course I have done in many years. I feel that what I have learnt will really benefit my work with several of the children I am currently involved with, and many more children to come in the future.
It was so useful to meet with other support assistants from other school and share our experiences and ideas whilst doing the ELSA training! Laura and Chantelle are so passionate about what they do that it made the whole course so interesting. The handouts and all of the group discussions were great. It was so helpful to have the opportunity to do activities and reflect on how we felt and therefore how children might feel doing similar activities. Every school should have an ELSA! This was a great 5 weeks and I’m so pleased that I will continue to be supported through supervision now the course has finished.
I was really excited to learn about all of the psychological theory underpinning emotional literacy and well-being. This training was delivered in a very professional, sincere and informative way. Laura and Chantelle clearly love to deliver the ELSA training! This course is an absolute must for schools who care about the holistic needs of their children.
I found it so helpful on my ELSA training to be given a range of resources and activities to add to my toolbox! I feel I know have a much better understanding of emotional literacy and the psychological theories behind it. It was great to have everything explained so clearly, with access to good handouts and resources. I found it so useful to really think about and learn why children may act and respond the way they do. Laura and Chantelle were very easy-going, fun, approachable and helpful. This is such a worthwhile accreditation to do to support pupils in your school and gain on-going supervision within your role.
On this course, I really enjoyed speaking to other colleagues working in similar roles to mine in school. The discussions were great to share work experiences and ideas together! The explanations of many of the psychological models and theories were really interesting. I found the Educational Psychologists delivering this training to be very well informed and approachable. This is a really thought-provoking course which equips you with so many tools to help notice and support emotional literacy needs within our children. I thoroughly recommend it!
I found it particularly helpful and interesting to learn about teaching the basic six emotions to children, as a foundation for good emotional literacy. Laura and Chantelle were amazing and were full of knowledge and ideas. Thank you so much, I can’t wait to get stared as an ELSA. I would say to any other school looking to train an ELSA that they should not hesitate to book this course!
The ELSA Training provides a great foundation from which your skills can grow! The practical applications of theories were particularly helpful, and it was great to hear ideas being shared that I can take back and use immediately. Chantelle and Laura were incredibly approachable, knowledgeable and interesting.
All of this training course was so useful. I have found it really helpful to think about unpicking the emotions behind challenging behaviour and to be given a bank of strategies to use to begin conversations with children on emotions. Laura and Chantelle were brilliant, and I would highly recommend the EY ELSA course with them.
I really enjoyed the ELSA Training course and meeting everyone. The training has been hugely beneficial in understanding how to support our children’s emotional wellbeing and I now feel confident in helping and supporting the children in our school. Laura and Chantelle were excellent, very friendly, approachable and helpful.
I can’t wait to start using my training and all the suggested tools and resources within my practice. Laura and Chantelle were amazing ladies, they were knowledgeable, friendly and caring. Definitely do this EY ELSA Training course.
The ELSA Training has been a very positive experience. Laura and Chantelle are inspiring, and I have really enjoyed working with the other ladies who will be in my supervision group.
This training course had already had a positive impact on my practice before it had even ended, as I quickly began to use many of the ideas and techniques taught. There was a really good balance of learning and networking with other Early Years settings. Laura and Chantelle were really helpful, friendly and approachable and they explained things really well. I would say to others to do this course because it will make you feel really confident in what you are doing to support emotional literacy needs.
I found Laura and Chantelle to be really knowledgeable trainers and really lovely ladies! All the resources, handouts and the handbook we were given were really useful. I found understanding about the psychology behind behaviour a particularly helpful and interesting aspect of the course. I really enjoyed the ELSA course and I am looking forward to putting my learning into practise. I’m also looking forward to the supervision in our groups as I know I’m not alone!
I really learnt that a child’s behaviour always has a reason and it is important for us to try and understand what that is. I found the EY ELSA training very beneficial and feel it has impacted very positively on my practice. I know that I can help children form a good basis for their later education and life by helping them develop an awareness and understanding of their emotions. Laura and Chantelle were very experienced, and they could draw on so many examples in their own work to back things up. I thoroughly enjoyed this course and I am looking forward to making changes within my setting which will be of benefit to all of the children’s emotional literacy!
I found the resources and handouts given to us on this ELSA training course really helpful. The whole course was presented by Laura and Chantelle in a really easy to learn format. I would recommend this course to others because I think what is taught is really relevant and beneficial for today’s school life.
I feel this training has really enabled me to better handle children’s behaviour and understand how to best support their emotional needs and validate their feelings. Laura and Chantelle were great and passed on their rich knowledge base through this course. I would say to others to take this course up. It’s extremely important to have staff within your setting who understand the value of emotional literacy support within everyday practice.
Everything taught on this course was so helpful, but I found the bereavement, grief and loss day particularly informative. I enjoyed meeting other people with the same desire to learn and take back this knowledge into their schools. It was great to be able to listen to each other and discuss ideas. Laura and Chantelle were easy to communicate with and I felt that I could ask whatever was on my mind. They were really open with all their knowledge and experiences. They were very welcoming and they both delivered the information on each of the five days with clarity and passion.
I have really enjoyed all of this course and it has given me more knowledge in my daily dealings with the children I work with. Laura and Chantelle were informative, friendly and approachable. I felt able to ask them questions about any aspect of the course.
I found it helpful to be able to reflect on my practice throughout this course. I feel I will be better equipped to deal with issues surrounding bereavement, grief and loss following this aspect of training within the course. Chantelle and Laura were extremely approachable, understanding and most of all patient! The course content was delivered with professionalism. I am looking forward to supervision as I feel this will be a really useful ongoing part of this training.
The Early Years ELSA Training has had an immediate effect on my practice. I am more confident talking to staff about emotional literacy and I have already used some of the strategies and techniques taught. Laura and Chantelle are fantastic, and the content and style of this training was great. I felt able to speak up and share without fear of judgement. To anyone thinking of doing this training I would say that every setting should have an EY ELSA. At a time when we are increasingly concerned about children and young people’s mental health, it is more important than ever for Early Years settings to focus on emotional literacy and well-being.
I enjoyed all aspects of this training course and felt I gained confidence and a much better understanding of emotional literacy, including how to approach situations. The course provided lots of ideas for me to apply to my practice. The course facilitators were really good – they were very knowledgeable and understanding. You should definitely book onto this course!
After doing this course, I feel more aware of children’s emotions and behaviours and reasons behind them. I feel more confident to validate children’s emotions rather than distract them from them and I feel my interactions with the children I work with has changed. I am more aware of their distress and how to support them when they are feeling strong emotions. I feel confident to implement the strategies I have been taught. Laura and Chantelle were very friendly and down to earth and not scary!! I felt like I could say anything, and my opinion or point was valid. I think the EY ELSA training is very useful and important and relevant, particularly in today’s world! Thank you very much.