Growing Great Schools™ provides training on many aspects of behaviour, school and student wellbeing, school leadership and related matters, as well as providing consultancy on all aspects of student and school wellbeing.

“Brilliant – finally someone passionate and motivated who didn’t just recite powerpoints … Sue has made me feel enthusiastic and empowered – and knowledgeable.”

“I learnt much as there was an opportunity to listen, think, discuss and share with each other.”

“The most interesting thing I learnt today – revisiting and reaffirming the importance of schools as communities, + having a vision for how we can come together to support learning and growth in the context of positive relationships.”

Presentations and workshops

The normal fee for a day’s training is £2,000 plus expenses.

Circle Solutions aims to promote the social and emotional learning that underpins healthy relationships and foster a sense of belonging and connectedness. The framework is mostly used in classrooms but can be applied with groups at all ages, including school staff. It is particularly helpful in preventing bullying and developing a more supportive ethos.

Introduction to Circle Solutions: 1 day course for teachers / school counsellors / community workers
Circle Solutions is an evidence-based philosophy for healthy relationships and a pedagogy for teaching them. It is aimed at giving students responsibility for developing a positive class environment and enhancing social and emotional competencies. See Sue Roffey (2020) Circle Solutions for Student Wellbeing (3rd edition). Sage Publications

Circle Solutions Trainer: 2 day course for teachers / school counsellors / community workers
This is for those who wish to embed Circles as a tool for wellbeing in their school and be accredited to train staff.

For more details and upcoming dates for these two courses, see here.

Circles Solutions Review: 1 day course for teachers/school counsellors / community workers
For teachers and trainers who have had experience of running Circle Solutions and are looking to maintain the integrity of the intervention and expand their knowledge and resources.

The ASPIRE Framework for Whole School Wellbeing
How to embed the principles of Agency, Safety, Positivity, Inclusion, Respect and Equity throughout a school.

Beyond Behaviour Management: Changing Behaviour from the Inside Out: 2 day course for teachers and school leaders
This addresses different ways of thinking about behaviour and students who are hard to manage. It explores diverse needs and behaviours but emphasises a strengths and relational approach. The course also offers useful responses for challenging situations. See Sue Roffey (2011) Changing Behaviour in Schools: Promoting Positive Relationships and Wellbeing. Sage Publications

Double-Whammy Kids:  Whole day workshop for teachers and school leaders
Identifying the difficulties that some children bring to school and looking at ways both individual teachers and whole school policy and practice can respond effectively.  Using emotional intelligence and social capital.

The New Teachers Survival Guide to Behaviour: 1 day course for teachers in their first few years of teaching.
This course this gives a raft of practical strategies to promote the positive, communicate effectively, maintain professional integrity and stay resilient
See Sue Roffey (2013) The New Teachers Survival Guide to Behaviour 3^rd Ed. Sage

Relationships, the Heart of Quality Teaching: 1 day course for teachers
It is the teacher-student relationship that makes the most difference to effective education. This course explores what the research says and identifies practical strategies in establishing and maintaining positive relationships in the classroom.

“Extremely relevant content presented in an interesting way. Lots of positive strategies were discussed which should be very useful when put in place.”

Social Capital: Half day workshop for school leaders and managers
High social capital is the opposite of a toxic environment. This workshop covers the micro-moments of building social capital including the acronym WALKIES: Welcome, Acknowledgement, Listening, Kindness, Inclusion, Encouragement, Smiling and Silences!

Working Effectively with Families: 1 day course for teachers and school leaders
Schools say they want to work in partnership with families but often struggle with engaging certain sections of the community. This course looks at why parents may respond in certain ways and what might need to be taken into account in communicating effectively and meeting their needs.
See Sue Roffey (2002) School Behaviour and Families: Frameworks for Working Together, David Fulton
and Sue Roffey & John Parry (2014) Special Needs in the Early Years: Promoting Communication, Collaboration and Coordination, Routledge

Being an Agent of Change for Wellbeing: 1 day course for teachers, educational psychologists and school counsellors.
When wellbeing is core business in a school it makes a difference to resilience, behaviour, engagement, academic outcomes and teacher wellbeing. We explore what individuals can do themselves and to work with others to move their school in this direction.

Leading School and Student Wellbeing: 1 day course for school leaders
This addresses the vision that school leaders have for their school and how a focus on wellbeing as core business might fit with this. We explore what this means in practice from a personal and systemic perspective, identifying evidence and good practice.

Authentic Wellbeing and Resilience: 1 day course for all comers.
This addresses the myths of happiness and explores the parameters of authentic subjective and community wellbeing. It highlights research on both resilience and positive psychology that identifies both personal approaches and practical interventions that lead to a meaningful and fulfilling life.

Growing Great Kids: This course is for parents and can either be a brief half day introduction, a one day course or a 10 hour course delivered over 5 weeks.
We explore parenting styles and what parents can do to promote their children’s self-concept, pro-social behaviours, resilience and authentic spirit. It identifies factors that promote resilience and goes into detail about what this means.

Teacher Wellbeing: 1 day course for all educators.
Teacher wellbeing is critical for student wellbeing – burnt out educators are not able to be effective in the classroom. This course explores both the personal and collegial aspects of teacher wellbeing and looks at ways in which demands may be decreased in the school environment and resources increased.

Connectedness and Engagement: 1 day course for all educators
A sense of belonging is critical to resilience and mental health. This course looks at what schools might do to support an authentic sense of belonging for all students, particularly those who are more vulnerable and often challenging.

Being, becoming and belonging: Dimensions of Social and Emotional Learning: 1 day course for all educators – similar content delivered under different headings
Learning to be and learning to live together are two of the four pillars of education identified by the Delors Report in 1996. Social and emotional learning is one of the pathways to wellbeing in the Federal Scoping study (2008). This course identifies what this means and offers a framework for both content and context.

The Push-Pull Framework for School Attendance: 1 day course for school leaders
Students either opt out of school because of the social and academic experiences they have there or they opt to stay at home because it makes more sense. This course explores what schools might do about both aspects and also offers a framework for effective re-integration.