Newsletter September 2015

Contents

Welcome

Self-esteem workshop

Our children, our future

A letter to Tom Bennett

Chinese summer camp

Job opportunity with us

Register with VisionWorks

More information

Welcome

Another year, another challenge. . .

And there seem to be quite a few obstacles - budgets, staffing, exams, Ofsted - enough to depress us all straight away. We can feel powerless, which is when it helps to remember there is always something we can do. We don't have to be passive victims, we can be positive contributors. Not only is this helpful but it makes us feel so much better! In every team meeting, every lesson, every staffroom chat, every encounter, we will make a difference by engaging in some way. Every school, every workplace, is the sum of its relationships.

May the force be with you!

The VisionWorks team

Self-esteem workshop

In July I was invited to Swanshurst School in Birmingham. The whole of Year 10 was having an RE day, under the umbrella of Community Cohesion.

There was an interesting variety of workshops and students were able to experience 4 in the day. My groups explored becoming a confident, empathic individual with good self-esteem who could make positive contributions to a community.

I am always interested to experience students' response to our work, wondering if I might be seeing past experiences through rose coloured spectacles. I needn't have worried - the girls were great! Once they were settled, they responded with interest, humour and openness to self-exploration, the power of empathy, identifying emotions and so much more.

Yet again, I have seen how much students welcome learning the skills of emotional wellbeing.

Janet Grant

Our children, our future

The holidays may seem like a dream to you now, but one day in particular has stayed with me. In sunny France a few weeks ago I heard on the radio that children in England are unhappier at school than their peers in almost every other country. For a woman who spends much of her waking hours promoting the teaching of emotional wellbeing and positive mental health in schools, it was a blow.

The research is based on a survey of 53,000 children aged 10 and 12 in England, Germany, Norway, South Korea, Poland, Estonia, Spain, Turkey, Romania, Algeria, South Africa, Israel, Ethiopia, Colombia and Nepal.

Professor Jonathan Bradshaw, of the department of social policy and social work at the University of York, said: "Children are our future. Their wellbeing matters to us all. As a nation we pay enormous attention to the wellbeing of our economy, the state of the weather, sporting league tables, the City and the stock market. . . We need to make more effort to monitor the wellbeing of our children and we need to devote more resources to understanding how they are doing and to ensuring that their childhood is as good as it can be." Click here to read the full article in The Guardian.

This is important. There is talk of improving counselling - which is great - but we need, as a country, to be more proactive. Let's not, as a nation, hear the findings and carry on as before.

I suggest:

* all teacher training to equip teachers with the skills of emotional wellbeing

* all teachers model and use the skills of EW in all their lessons

* all students learn the skills of EW in school as an integral part of their education.

A letter to Tom Bennett

Dear Tom,

We have always enjoyed your articles in the TES and wish you well in your new role as the government's school behaviour management expert. Many teachers will have appreciated your 16 page guide to behaviour management in the TES of August 28th; it is full of sound, helpful advice. Interestingly, though, all the activities suggested are designed to enable the teacher to manage the child. We would suggest a two pronged approach; let's also help students to learn to manage their own behaviour.

In our experience, students who are taught the skills of Emotional Wellbeing develop increased self-esteem, empathy and motivation. They learn to take responsibility for themselves; they are calmer and habitually set themselves goals. When this is the norm, the classroom is a pleasant learning environment for everyone.

With best wishes, Sue Allen and Janet Grant

Chinese summer camp

This was my fourth summer camp with teenagers in China. It is well known that Chinese parents are very ambitious for their children. It is less well known that emotional wellbeing is a vital ingredient of lifelong success. It is encouraging that 50 families saw the value of entrusting their children to VisionWorks for 6 days of varied activities both inside and outside the classroom. We did role play, team games, creative work, performances, letters to parents, goals, and much more.

A translator can only manage so much, but together with body language, many smiles, a lot of willingness we developed a pretty effective communication system and many good friendships. We now have plans to offer similar events in the UK so watch this space.

Sue Allen

Job opportunity with us

VisionWorks for Schools is expanding; we are looking for an experienced teacher who shares our vision of teaching emotional well-being to all. If you relish the opportunity of promoting our values and our work in all the schools we can reach, we would love to hear from you.

Please contact us on 01249 409001 or email sue@vision-works.net.

Register with VisionWorks

Register at www.vision-works.net for a host of FREE downloadable resources, assembly ideas and sample modules from our programmes.

More information

If you'd like to find out how VisionWorks could work for you call Sue Allen or Janet Grant on 01249 409001, email sue@vision-works net or janet@vision-works.net or visit our website www.vision-works.net

VisionWorks for Schools now has its own Facebook page. All you have to do is like us and you will have regular updates of workshops, webinars, current EI news and more! We would love to hear from you too.