Our story

  • A Connect-Ed partner since September 2023
  • Primary School: Ages 3-11

”We really value the whole school approach and are seeing the impact on the children throughout the school.“

Kevin Reynolds, Headteacher Princess May Primary School, Hackney

Working in partnership with the Service Manager, our therapist holds a mixture of 1:1 sessions and lunchtime drop-in sessions. The lunchtime drop-in session is helpful, teachers can refer children to these, if they have concerns. It gives our therapist a chance to meet more children and if appropriate may also refer the child to a 1:1.

The lunchtime drop-ins are also great in dealing with friendship issues. For example, if there are particular friendship groups who are experiencing conflict, they’re referred to the session for a few weeks to help resolve and restore the friendships and give the children strategies moving forward. With the whole school approach, the wider team have also been trained on how to run lunchtime check ins so they can help with conflict issues.

The Service Manager and our therapist received training and worked together with the wider school team to solve an issue that the school was facing.

The school has 15 minute Circle Time lessons per week, but they were finding the use of this time varied by teacher and by class. Together, we devised a half termly and long-term plan for a whole school approach to this lesson. Connect-Ed then planned and provided PowerPoint presentation and resources for each lesson. Circle Time is now delivered, has clear objectives and is of consistent quality throughout the school.

”Our therapist is extremely proactive especially in their communication with staff and parents, which is important in a busy school.“

Kevin Reynolds, Headteacher Princess May Primary School, Hackney

Connect-Ed also ran parent/carer workshops, which were very popular with the school community. The workshop was for both caregivers and their child with the aim of using art to help communication with their loved one. This helped to highlight the importance of communication and looking after our mental health.

The overall impact in the school has been significant; the children are now more aware of how to regulate their emotions and have a better understanding of mental health.

Connect-Ed additional services:

Princess May has benefitted from the additional services available to all our Connect-Ed partners. A request from the school was submitted to the Crisis Fund to support a family who needed immediate financial support taking a little of the burden away from the family.

Princess May has also made use of the Christmas gift appeal which meant that children in the school, who would otherwise have gone without, were able to wake up on Christmas morning with a treasured gift from their loved ones.