22 March 2024

“Walk Slowly" by Danna Faulds

It only takes a reminder to breathe,

A moment to be still, and just like that,

Something in me settles, softens, makes

Space for imperfection.  The harsh voice

Of judgment drops to a whisper and I

Remember again that life isn’t a relay

Race, that we will all cross the finish

Line, that waking up to life is what we

Were born for. As many times as I

Forget, catch myself charging forward

Without even knowing where I’m going,

That many times I can make the choice

To stop, to breathe, and be, and walk

Slowly into the mystery.

Last Wednesday evening, teachers and parents managed to tick off quite a lot of the flourish model boxes with some connection, some learning and a few laughs sprinkled in too.

I gave a bit of a history of what and why and how we have been embedding our Positive Education Programme over the last 6-7 years. We have had plenty of successes and I also reiterated that we need to keep relevant with research or we stop and eventually start travelling backwards.

Teaching teams then shared a number of presentations and these can be found on the Positive Education tab on our website. 

Beth and Carl unpacked Optimism and the fact that it can be learned, and shared strategies we teach in the classroom.

Suz, Beth and Hayley delved into Resilience and provided a range of ways they work with their Tautoru children on building up the Resilience toolkit.

John and Rose then followed up looking and Engagement and the benefits of getting into the Flow State.

So, in a couple of hours, we managed to cover a lot of ground. It's not ever done though so let's keep the conversation rolling. The more home and school use similar strategies and language, the more the children benefit!