Manorfield Primary and Nursery School
ELSA
Hello,
My name is Sophie Mulligan, and I am the ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) here at Manorfield Primary and Nursery School. I’ve had the pleasure of working at Manorfield for over 10 years as both a teaching assistant and a trained ELSA.
I’m often described as a kind and compassionate person, and I truly care about the emotional wellbeing of every child I support. Taking on personal challenges is something I believe in deeply—one that’s especially close to my heart was running the Brighton Marathon to raise money for Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, in memory of our lovely Harrison. It’s moments like these that remind me why emotional support and community care are so important.
As an ELSA, my role is to help children understand and manage their emotions, develop social skills, and build self-esteem. I work with children individually or in small groups in a calm and welcoming space we call the ELSA Hut—a peaceful room away from the busy school environment, where children can feel safe to express themselves.
Children may be referred to ELSA for a variety of reasons, such as bereavement, anxiety, low self-esteem, or friendship difficulties. The support I offer is always tailored to each child’s needs and is designed as a short-term intervention to help them develop healthy coping strategies.
I’m also part of the wider Wellbeing Team here at Manorfield. Together, we work closely to ensure that every child gets the right pathway of support. Sometimes this includes signposting families to excellent online resources. There is a wealth of support available for parents and carers looking to further help their children at home, and I’ve included a few useful links below to get you started.
The invisible string is a beautiful story about being connected by an invisible string to those you love. Ideal for helping children deal with separation anxiety and loss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rZNTFf35Aw
Jigsaw Southeast is a fantastic website for supporting children and families through bereavement. You can also self-refer for further support.
https://www.jigsawsoutheast.org.uk/resources/
A useful website to help with many issues you may have at home including friendship issues, there is a short video to help support your child at home, helping with useful language you may with to use.
https://parentingsmart.place2be.org.uk/article/my-child-has-friendship-issues
Twinkl is a great website for creating things like timetables at home, reward charts, mindfulness colouring and fun breathing techniques for children to help support self regulation.