Red Cross: Free education workshops for young people

"Our education helps young people understand, cope with, and take action in a crisis."

Thought we'd share something that we're doing tomorrow with our Year 6! The BRitish Red Cross offer fully funded workshops in schools and youth work settings in areas where young people are at higher risk of experiencing a crisis related to drug/alcohol use, incidents involving knives (or other sharp objects) and stigmatising behaviour.

What do the workshops cover?
The free workshops, delivered by Red Cross educators, aim to help 10–19 year olds learn first aid and/or explore the impact of stigmatising behaviour towards refugees, migrants and asylum seekers.

First aid workshops
Learn essential first aid skills, including how to help someone who is:

• unresponsive (breathing/not breathing)
• bleeding heavily
• burnt.

Assess and manage risks to make informed choices when helping others.
Build the confidence and willingness to help in a first aid emergency.

How can I find out more?

Call 0344 412 2734
Email youtheducation@redcross.org.uk
Visit: www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/Teaching-resources/Education-workshops

Updates on Behaviour...

Part of our Inset on the first day was to review and update our behaviour policy. We've recognised that we needed to both simplify our existing policy and link it to our learning value. We've come with a three line statement which we hope will embed  quickly with staff and children.

We spent a lot of time discussing how to ensure our expectations are shared with pupils. We believe building positive relationships in the classroom is key!

• Focus on specific things - what do they mean? Model good behaviours.
• Use circle times that are planned or in response to something that come up or an incident.
• Use class assemblies for the children to share things that matter to them or what's going on in the news.
• Give the children time to learn more about each other through team building activities. 
• Remember and respond – e.g. if you know 'Jimmy' is going to dad’s on Saturday – ask him about it on Monday morning.

'Relentelss routines' are a vital part of the sense of order and community. Keeping our language simple and not asking children 'why' things happened in the first instance but rather 'what' happened. when it all goes wrong...?

A few simple tips like these can make a difference.

• Use a gentle approach which is personal and non-threatening.
• Stay at eye level or lower.
• Use the pupil’s name, 
• State behaviours observed and which rule it contravenes.
• Inform the student what will happen if s/he continues. 
• Refer to previous good behaviour / learning as a model for desired behaviour.
• Use language of choice.
• Walk away – allow take up time.
• Look around the room with a view to catch somebody following the rules.

I guess we won't all get it right all of the time but we will all try to do our best.

Good Diabetes Care in School Award

We are very proud to have been awarded the Good Diabetes Care in School badge by Diabetes UK. Being an award holder puts our school in a unique position to let parents and other schools know that we offer good practice care and management to children with Type 1 diabetes. One of the key objectives of the Good Diabetes Care in School Award is to create opportunities for schools around the country to learn and get support from those schools that are Good Diabetes Care in School Award holders. We are now on a list of contact reference schools which will be shared with parents and other schools who would benefit from gaining insight into the ways in which good practice schools manage children with diabetes. We believe that the more good practice information is shared amongst schools, the more schools will gain the knowledge and confidence to deliver good diabetes care.

Being Resilient!

We've been working hard to embed our Learning Values into everything we do in school. Children have been making 'bounce back' figures to remind them about keeping going when things get challenging. In KS1, teachers have been using eyes (...plastic ones!) with their class to say 'I like what I see!' which is really reinforcing positive behaviours. We also have more learning targets to share below which are really highlighting what children think they have to get better at.

New Learning Targets

We've been reviewing how we incorporate our School's learning values to become more meaningful for pupils. We are going to trial a new target idea where children reflect on what they need to do to improve their learning. Children will be supported to select targets which link to our 'Hands, Hearts and Heads' values - the things they need to do to better. Here's a really good example from a pupil in KS2. We'll be reviewing these regularly to see what impact they're having and see if it's making a difference.

Examples of Resilience...

The Learning Pit from Kenilworth Learning on Vimeo.

This is a really good example of someone very well known thinking about resilience! This fits in perfectly with our current focus on this value and how it it such an important learning behaviour to encourage in our children.

Inset: Importance of Resilience

Part of our INSET day on Monday was to launch a focus on our next learning value: Resilience. Partly inspired by Team GB success and other successful famous individuals, we began by defining resilience and why it is such an important quality. We also wanted to work our thinking around to the classroom and why it's such an important learning behaviour. Teaching children well being and happiness is important and the ability to 'Bounce' back when things don't go so well is a vital part of this. We also considered how to teach and model this in the classroom. What do children do when they find something hard? How can we support them in getting off and beyond that first step? Over the next few weeks, each class will be looking at building resilience into their work and we hope it encourages pupils to take a more positive view of themselves and how they learn.

“The world changes. Children don’t”.

New Thinkuknow parents and carers campaign launches!

CEOP have launched a brand new public awareness campaign. Through social media, articles, blogs, films and more, they want to get parents and carers thinking and talking about the importance of discussing sex, relationships and the internet with their children.
 
The first part of this campaign is a new resource entitled “The world changes. Children don’t”. This short film  tells the age-old story of Romeo and Juliet… with a modern twist. It shows how the lives of these young lovers might play out online today, including the Lark ‘tweeting’ and Romeo ‘friending’ Juliet.

Follow this link!

Behind this contemporary remake is the message that, although technology and social media can seem overwhelming and forever evolving, children and young people don’t change. They try to remind parents that (just as when they were young), their children are still exploring and creating their identities, keeping up with their friends and dealing with adolescent pressures. Although much of this now happens online, they remind them that the kind of parental support and advice which keeps their children safe 'in real life' will keep them safer online too. The Thinkuknow resources can be a useful place to start in thinking about how you might frame these discussions.

Poker Chips...?

We think you might enjoy this clip about strategies for improving children's behaviour. 

The 'Key Jar' Resource

This is a fantastic resource for parents and staff we were given by our school nurse. We can't print all of it here but the link is here if you want to find out more.

We quote: 'Unlock the hearts of your little ones using these keys to a great family conversation. Cut out the label below, affix it to a jar, and fill the jar with the question strips on pages 3-5. Simply pull a question from the jar during a family meal and listen to the magic unfold!'

Here are some examples: 
Who in your class is lonely?

Who in your class is a leader?

When is it hard being a friend?

Who is somebody you’d like to be friends with who isn’t yet your friend?