Everyone reading this newsletter will have been affected by the pandemic sweeping across the world. Although the wellbeing of us all has been at risk, some have had more of a struggle than others. One can only hope that in the ‘new normal’ aftermath, people in tough jobs will have more respect for what they do – and be paid accordingly; that policies put in place to look after the vulnerable will not be jettisoned, education will be less of a straight-jacket with wellbeing at centre-stage and the air will stay cleaner. Whatever your situation we wish you well and hope that some of the resources below are useful. They come from all over the world so many thanks to those who keep us informed. As there are quite a few of these this newsletter is a little longer than usual. Bear with us!

Teacher Wellbeing

The most recent edition of the International Journal of Emotional Education can be downloaded in full and has two articles on teacher wellbeing.
Sue Roffey is delivering a free 45 minute webinar on Teacher wellbeing in challenging times at 8.30am (BST) Monday 25th May. You can register here.

Sleep is an important part of wellbeing. This article gives information on what a good night’s sleep means at different ages, alongside numerous ideas for supporting good sleep habits including for very small children – which of course impacts on how well parents function.

Transition

This is a big issue for many students at this time of year, especially those whose academic year is from September. For those in lockdown the ability to have a good goodbye is more important than ever. Read Elizabeth Gillies’ excellent article: All Change at School: Signpost to a good transition 

One of the wellbeing stories, Dana and the Doom Merchant, is all about transition and the fear of losing what is familiar and anxiety about what the future will hold and how different ways of thinking might help. Sue Roffey will be reading this story and introducing the characters that represent positive and negative thinking at 2pm on Monday May 18th BST. It will then be available on the Educational Psychology Reach-Out You tube channel. It is most suitable for 8-11 year-olds. Register here. 

Dr Tina Rae has produced a resource published by Nurture UK entitled the Transition Tool Box which is aimed at supporting young pupils returning to secondary school, especially where there are mental health concerns following the lockdown. More info here.

The first couple of pages of the NSW AIS Wellbeing News also contains some excellent material on transition as well as many other useful links.

The Wellbeing Stories

We have completed a revision of the stories and put them all on Powerpoint so they can be used with whole classes/groups either directly or remotely. Each story comes with a teacher and family toolkit. Readers of this newsletter have a 15% discount on Education or Family sets with all six stories, toolkits and worksheets – cite the code ggswwstory. You can download the Introduction for free to see what they are all about. www.wellbeingstories.com

Being at home

Links to TES home resources to support learning at home: Primary and Secondary.  All free to download.

There are now many activities for children and parents to engage together at home on the internet. This is one we wrote earlier! Surviving and thriving at home.

Explaining coronavirus to children and young people: Southend Educational Psychology Service has a raft of resources on their website. This includes webinars and podcasts on a wide range of other issues.

For those who have had a bereavement or other traumatic life event over these last few months, you may want to watch Lucy Hone’s TEDx talk on Resilient Grieving. She speaks about her own experience of unbearable loss and how she managed to both grieve and live at the same time.

After Lockdown

This powerful article highlights how play needs to be incorporated into our education system when schools return.

Society transformed. Watch Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York State talking aboutmaking the changes that will make our world a better place. Although this is about the US, it applies everywhere. Pause, reflect, learn, grow and move forward. Just under 10 minutes to watch,
There has been a worrying rise in family violence incidents during the lockdown and this points yet again to the critical place that social-emotional learning needs to have in future schooling. Circle Solutions for Student Wellbeing, 3rd Edition was published in March with a chapter on the ASPIRE principles and pedagogy for safe and effective implementation. It includes an activity on Growing Good Men. This is written out in full here.  For balance the subsequent activity in the book is on Becoming Brilliant Women!

Growing good men

Learning outcome: to raise awareness and reflect on gender linked identity and behaviours. This activity is with boys only and is best facilitated by a male facilitator.

Working In pairs or groups of 3-4 give students the following questions one at a time. Ask for one person to record contributions.

1)What does it mean to be a good man? Imagine what you would like people to say about you at a significant birthday in the future.

2)What does it mean to be a ‘real man’ in our society? What is acceptable, what is not? Where are these messages and expectations coming from?

Invite the groups to share their responses and write these up for all to see.

Silent statements. Ask students to change places if they agree with the following statements:

  • Boys and young men are getting confusing messages about how they should be.
  • Being a ‘tough guy’ does not feel right sometimes
  • We have choices about who we become

In different groups of three-four, the students discuss the following:

  • Are some boys wearing an imaginary mask to stop others seeing what they really want and need?
  • Is it OK for boys to talk about how they feel? What happens when they don’t?
  • What support do boys need?

Conferences

As you will be aware all the conferences listed in our last newsletter have been postponed. More information once we have it.

Please forward this newsletter to anyone you know who may be interested. And if you do get a forwarded version perhaps sign up to get your own in future!

Thank you for all that you do. Take care & stay safe.

Sue