wellbeing in schools – Barry Carpenter Education

Episode 24: Well Being – Plans and Possibilities

LearningShared Episode 24 Well Being Conference Plans and Possibilities (Conference 29th June 2021)

This episode is a recording of the online conference and webinar on the topic Well Being that was held on 29th June 2021. The event and this recording contains presentations and talks from national leaders in the field of mental health, well being, trauma informed practice and psychology including Professor Barry Carpenter CBE OBE FCCT, Dr Tina Rae, Sharon Gray OBE and Laura Purser, as well as 5 school based practitioners and leaders from a wide range of settings and contexts.

Presenters and panellists:

Prof Barry Carpenter CBE OBE FCCT (Prof. Mental Health in Education, Oxford Brookes University)
Dr Tina Rae (Child Psychologist. Prolific & award winning author)
Sharon Gray OBE (Former-Headteacher. Former-Ofsted Inspector. Member of the Youth Justice Board, Wholehearted Learning)
Laura Purser (Head of Primary, Prep & EYFS at University of Buckingham. Designs/leads master’s level NASENCO course.)
Alison Wheeler (Headteacher, Palmerston School)
Alex Tomkins (Deputy Headteacher, Greenside School)
Jeanette Scull (Deputy Headteacher, John F Kennedy School)
Jonah Stancombe (Assistant Principal, Bridge College)
Tom Thatcher (PSHE Lead, St Hugh’s Special School)

Professor Carpenter writes…

“The pandemic period has witnessed a rapid erosion in the mental health of children. National figures are worrying, but as ever, as Teachers, we must ask ‘how does this affect children’s learning, and how can we remove barriers to achievement generated by issues such as anxiety, trauma and loss?”

Two major Curriculum initiatives from this September will enhance the foundations created, pre pandemic, of Mental Health Leads in school, Mental Heath First Aid Training, etc:

Firstly, for all children, the new DfE Relationships, Health and Sex Education (RHSE) Curriculum becomes statutory. With its clear focus on Mental Well Being and Relationships, these are perfect platforms for rebuilding each school’s curriculum on meaningful human values, with RSHE at its heart, … for teaching is a relationship based profession.

Secondly, for children with SEND, the implementation of the Rochford Review recommendations, not only brings the Engagement Model into play as statutory summative assessment, but sees a renewed emphasis on the 4 domains of SEND in the Code of Practice (2015) as the curriculum framework for children with an EHCP. As such Social, Emotional and Mental Health, (SEMH), is a vital platform for designing learning opportunities for children with EHCPs.

Evidence for Learning has a strong history of facilitating curriculum development, pedagogy, assessment and practice in the area of Mental Well Being (MWB) through a variety of strategies.”

Alongside Prof. Barry Carpenter, presenters included national leaders and experts in the field – Dr Tina Rae, Sharon Gray OBE, and Laura Purser – together with school based practitioners – Alison Wheeler, Alex Tomkins, Jeanette Scull, Jonah Stancombe and Tom Thatcher – for a rich and comprehensive collection of presentations and sharing of knowledge, ideas and practice that you are invited to take back to your own schools for your own discussions, planning and CPLD.

This episode is packed full of valuable ideas and insights, with colleagues sharing knowledge, ideas and practice that you are invited to take back to your own schools for your own discussions, planning and CPLD.

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Everything you ever wanted to know about a ‘Happiness Box’

Here is a how to make a Happiness Box, with a sound rationale for doing so. Written by Barry Carpenter and Bev Cockbill this step by step guide is perfect for welcoming children back to school, or for home learning. In either contexts it enables the child to build their emotional resilience, and self regulate their emotional well being.

Go forth and make! Enjoy!

Rationale for the Happiness Box:

Click here or the icon below to download / view.

Compassionate Leadship in schools: Compassionate Teaching in Classrooms

Never has compassion in our schools been so crucial than at this current time, where phased re opening of schools is high on the National agenda. It is critical to restoring the emotional well being of our children, teachers, teaching assistants, and school leaders.

This article gives a good overview, and deepens understanding of, what compassion is, and how it might contribute to restoring our schools as mentally healthy places.

Compassion: the essential orientation

An interesting article in The Psychologist here

So what happens when the children come back to school?

The Transition Toolkit at nurtureuk.org by Dr Tina Rae, is a perfect resource for supporting the year 6 to year 7 transition process. At a time when this is likely to be more compressed than planned, the sound evidence base, theoretical underpinning, and brilliant activity cards in the Transition Toolkit are a must for schools.

The design and range of activities would also support many pupils when then come to transition back to schools, and will help teachers support children’s emotional well being, through meaningful and purposeful learning. It can be a dynamic tool, alongside the other Boxes in this series from Nurture UK, in the Recovery Curriculum.

This is an ideal resource at this time of crisis. Highly recommended.

Click the cover image below to download and view attached file below (.docx) file type.