Responsibility of All Applied Across the School at Ayr Grammar - Transcript

Responsibility of All applied across the school at Ayr Grammar

At Ayr Grammar we have a very holistic approach to health and wellbeing. To us health and wellbeing and the GIRFEC agenda are not two separate things, they run very much in parallel with each other. We use the language of GIRFEC, we use the language of health and wellbeing all the time with the children, that filters right down into the classroom, where the staff are having lots of conversations with the children about their health and wellbeing Experiences and Outcomes. The children are involved in tracking that, but most importantly it’s about the language that the children are using and they’ve got a very heightened awareness of what health and wellbeing means and what getting it right for them means in practice in the school. In terms of planning for health and wellbeing the staff not only consider the health and wellbeing Experiences and Outcomes but they also have to consider the wellbeing indicators within that, so when they’re planning, for example, interdisciplinary work they would take both of those things into account. But the wellbeing indicators are also used in a very practical way in the classroom. The children use it for a maybe focus of their health lesson, but they also use it in a much more organic way in the classroom. Every classroom has a wellbeing indicator wheel on the wall. That is used to engage in dialogue, in debate and discussion with the children so they use it in a variety of ways and it really means something to the children in the classroom.

Pupil 1: I like using the wheel because it like describes how you’re feeling and like the teacher knows how you’re feeling when you walk into the class and you’re doing your work.

Pupil 2: I look out for my friends and make sure they’re on the wheel and if not I sometimes stick with them until they’re either achieving, safe or healthy. That makes me happy if they’re happy.

Teacher: At some point throughout the day I will stop what we’re doing and ask the children ok for example, why are you feeling safe today? Why are you feeling included? And make sure the children are able to talk about how they’re feeling and that way you can identify if there are any problems or you can also celebrate success if the children are feeling they’re achieving that day.

Headteacher: A prime example of ROA in action in the school is the establishment of a lunch club for some of our more vulnerable children. The origin of this club is centred around making sure that our children are safe and happy in school.

Teacher: The children that come to lunch club can come for various reasons: an hour outside in the playground might be a bit long for them, they come here, we can work on their social skills, playing, sharing and all those skills that they’re learning. The children are leaving at the end of lunchtime having a positive experience, feeling happy, feeling safe in the school and knowing that their circle doesn’t stop at the classroom door – it’s the whole school, all the staff, all the pupils.

Headteacher: There’s many ways in which we try to support the emotional needs of the children in our school. One of the ways that we find that’s very successful is by using a system called our worry box. They fill out a little slip, post that in the worry box and immediately a manager will repond to them. In terms of response it means sitting down with that child and having a dialogue, having a discussion with them about what those problems are, and how we can work together to find solutions to that. But it is only one part of a support system for children, they’re very aware, we spend a lot of time in assembly talking about how they can get support if they feel unsafe or they feel unhappy then they know that that’s one small part of a larger picture for them. By embracing ROA within health and wellbeing there’s been a very positive and direct impact for staff, for parents, but most importantly for children. We’ve been able to plan around the four contexts for learning for them and very much give pupils a voice.