Pastoral Lead - Mrs Miles

My name is Sarah Miles and I am the Patoral Lead at Winnall Primary School.

The role is a varied one tailored to the needs of the individual children and their parents/carers. Engaging families in their child's education is a key factor of the child's success and my job is to help families with any obstacles they may find in their way.

I am here to support parents with a wide range of issues and concerns and to help them access information about services and activities they might need or simply offer a cup of tea and a chat!

My role includes:

Supporting parents to develop and maintain a positive relationship with the school.
Acting as a link between home and school including making home visits or meeting at other suitable locations.
Signposting to a range of services for families that may need additional support and information.
Facilitating group work, meetings with outside agencies.
Filling out forms and applications.
Making contact/attending meetings with other agencies/professionals to provide families with extra help.
Helping children and families to increase school attendance and minimise absences.
Working with children and parents on a 1:1 or school group basis.
Talking with, supporting and encouraging parents and children to help make their time at Winnall enjoyable and successful.
Offering 'Drawing and Talking' as well as TALA.

Drawing and Talking

Drawing and Talking is a therapeutic intervention for children and adults. It is designed as a short-term, time limited, pro-active intervention intended to complement, rather than replace, the work of specialist mental health services.

Through a 12-week cycle of 30-minute one-to-one sessions, this non-intrusive tool allows children, young people and adults to process emotional pain resulting from trauma. The child or adult utilises drawing as a way to help them express their feelings differently from ordinary verbal language.

The Drawing and Talking therapeutic intervention allows individuals to discover and communicate emotions through a non-directed technique. This is what sets Drawing and Talking apart from existing solution-focused and cognitive-based therapies and interventions.

TALA - Therapeutic Active Learning Assistant

TALA is a specialist teaching assistant who has been trained by educational psychologists to support children experiencing emotional or social difficulties.

TALA offers an emotionally safe and supportive space in which pupils can explore their feelings and experiences. They are heard by the practitioner on a deep level using active listening. Practitioners listen to a child's views, experiences and feelings without judgement in an atmosphere of respect and empathy based on a secure and trusting working relationship.

A child has a regular slot during the week for a targeted period of time (around 30-40 mins). It usually runs for around six weeks but can be longer. Sessions are confidential, offering the child an opportunity to talk about things that concern them.

The sessions are one to one and are very pupil led involving play based activities where required.

Not only does TALA offer a child a safe place to talk, it supports them in many other areas, these are:

Cope better with issues, concerns and situations
Achieve some level of understanding with regard to thoughts, emotions and behaviours
Accept their limitations and strengths and to feel ok about them
Change behaviours which have negative consequences
Look at things differently
Maximise the opportunity to reach their full potential
Empowers pupils to find their own resolutions and build resilience for the future.

Testimonials from our families

" For both my daughter and I the Parent link has been super and very beneficial."

"Mrs Miles has been helping me and my son a lot. We have been talking and doing work about managing his behaviour as he is coming into his teenage years and advising me about how to stay calm. She has helped me get on to Parenting courses and we have had sessions to help me when I am stressed."

"I come to see Sarah every week to do a one on one session with my son. It's a very big help as I have younger children as well and we don't get time alone. We both enjoy our time and I am finding it's calming his behaviour down and bringing us closer together. It is a massive help having her here as she gives me advice on all my children and I'm not sure what I'd do without her support."

"You've put a smile on my face and I appreciate that."