Welcome to the Sunflower Room
Our Inclusion Room provides a range of invaluable support to many of our pupils in all aspects of social, emotional and physical development. In the Sunflower room, we offer children a safe space to talk about their feelings, where they can be listened to unconditionally and without judgement.
Our Inclusion Mentors - Samantha Johnston, Vivien Gammon and Clare Packham - work in the Sunflower Room to support the physical and emotional wellbeing of the children. We feel this is the essential foundation upon which learning can take place. All parents want their children to be safe and happy at school, and we very much share that goal.
Good pastoral care in school is also fundamental to the development of character and social skills, which will be of upmost importance to children in later life. There are a variety of reasons a child may be referred for some 1:1 or group sessions including but not exclusive: bereavement, low self-esteem, anxiety, difficulty regulating emotions, support with family separations, support with developing social skills, communication and motor skills.
Mrs Gammon always looks so bright and colourful!
Our special extra helper Caterpillar gives great hugs. Mrs Johnston loves a cuddle!
Our wonderful team of inclusion mentors!
Mrs Gammon, Mrs Packham and Mrs Johnston.
Our children started a ‘Wall of Cuteness’ which never fails to bring a smile!
Supporting our Bereaved Children
The death of a parent or sibling is one of the most traumatic situations for a child. With support and care we can help our children at Goldstone in their grief and help them face the future with hope.
Some children might prefer to keep school as a place to ‘forget’. The routine of the day and being around their friends gives them a chance to feel ‘normal’ when other things feel like they are constantly changing or out of their control. Other children may need more regular support and someone they do not have to retell their story to over and over again. As mentors we are here to sit alongside children whatever their grief looks like.
Grieving can take a lot of emotional, mental and physical energy. Some children will have problems sleeping or issues with eating and they may not be able to concentrate or keep up with school work in class and homework. We work with the children to help them cope and make a plan for balancing their school learning with everything else they are dealing with.
With the help of our gardener Ruth and some of our wonderful children, we are in the process of creating a memory garden within the Living Classroom. Our aim is to provide a beautiful, healing place in our school for our bereaved children. They can spend time here if they wish to remember, reflect and/or talk about their loved ones who died. This space can also be used by adults in school who have lost loved ones. Our Forget-me-Not Garden is sustainable and will grow over time and be used in years to come. Children can dedicate something to their loved ones; be it a plant to grow, an inscribed wooden plaque, a decorated wind chime. Some of our children have decorated stones for their loved ones and we have made them in to stepping stones in to the garden. We had a real learning journey with this and ruined a couple of cake tins in the process! With the help of silicone we eventually found a winning formula and the children have placed their first stepping stones in the garden….
