Welcome 

"But mostly teenagers deserve more than the national amnesia that seems to make us forget how very, very hard it is to be a teenager, and what little credit they receive, despite their manifest achievements." Patrick Ness writing in The Guardian 15 June. 

How refreshing to read positive reporting of teenagers. In this season of celebration let's also champion our young people.

Enjoy your summer!

The VisionWorks team

Flying the Flag for PRUs

Plan B, aka Ben Drew, the rapper, actor and director, was kicked out of school in Year 10 and then attended Tunmarsh PRU in Plaistow. He now wants to shout about how wonderful his education at this PRU was, and how it turned his life around. It is not every day we hear praise for educational institutions, never mind PRUs, never mind from a celebrity! 

Furthermore, Ben would like to help young people who are off track in the way that he was before he ended up at Tunmarsh, where "great teachers" and "positive people" inspired him to follow a more positive path, "...they only have to bump into one person that can plant one positive seed in their head and in their heart and it can change their life." 

In education we all know that there are many inspirational teachers who are changing lives; it's great to hear some public acknowledgement of this.

This latest government initiative to target 125,000 'troubled families' in the hope of healing some of society's ills  is yet another sticking plaster attempt to solve deep rooted problems. It is also divisive and demonises a sector of society, allowing the blame to be well and truly placed in one area. All families are troubled at times; all humans are troubled at times. 

A more helpful approach would be to look deeper at why children are growing up to become struggling parents and failing to function in their lives, without responsibility, without respect, without kindness. And then to help, at the earliest possible stage, and to keep on helping, both children and parents... from all areas of society, to become emotionally mature human beings with a sense of self-worth, self-inclusion, personal responsibility and respect. 

This of course comes back to the need for emotional literacy being at the core of education. There are so many fantastic initiatives available to develop children's emotional literacy and foster the values that we all know are at the heart of a kind and successful society.

Ours are available at www.vision-works.net.

The Art of Happiness    

Not true, says Achor. This approach always keeps happiness in the distance and unobtainable. We need to learn to be happy now. It turns out that being happy fires our brain on all cylinders which means we do better in all areas of our lives which leads to success

This research bears out what some of us have known intuitively for a long time.

In his TED talk, (which you can see on YouTube) Achor finishes with a list of 5 things that, if practiced regularly, will make for a happier life. You may want to give it a go.

1. Think of three good things that you have seen/have happened during the day.
2. Keep a journal where you write about one of these good things
3. Meditate
4. Exercise
5. Random acts of kindness.                                                           Janet Grant

VisionWorks: Springboard for change in September

Developing an emotionally intelligent school involves commitment, time, and planning. As you know, it doesn't happen overnight and there are many competing demands. But the cooperative this process engenders are key to enjoyable and creative learning.

Have you included VisionWorks for Schools in your PSHE or tutor time plans for next September? Our programmes cover KS2 - 4, with classroom activities to build emotional intelligence and improve the climate for learning. Many of you tell us you enjoy using our free downloads; purchasing our structured KS2, 3 and 4 packs will be an invaluable investment.

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