On Friday 25th August 2017 we introduced pupils to Skipper, the lead character in a Health and Wellbeing programme called 'Building Resilience' which has been developed by a group of Edinburgh staff led by Karen Richmond (South Morningside Primary) and Pattie Santelices (Principal Officer Mental Health & Welllbeing, City of Edinburgh Council.) The programme complements and re-enforces our own Health and Wellbeing programme, developed by Carolyn Anstruther and staff, with support from our Parent Council Health and Wellbeing group, and well established over several years.
Primary Seven pupils from P7B helped introduce ten strategies that we will focus on throughout the year to help our pupils build resilience to support good mental health. We all got on our feet to sing 'Stronger' and considered Kid President's message that things in life may not always be 'awesome', but our response can be. Pupils were invited to research 'Resilience Role Models' at home and create a poster. A selection will be shared at next week's Assembly.
We congratulated our two Fringe Festival actresses Hannah and Faye who have had rave reviews on stage. Zoe in P4A wowed us with her Spanish language skills and we celebrated Aiden and Louis' tremendous achievements competing in an international mathematics competition in Beijing over the summer holiday.
Pupils were reminded that Pupil Council and ECO rep elections will soon take place and to prepare speeches if they wish to stand for election.
4. Building Resilience
•Everyone goes through ups and downs in their life
•We can learn to be more resilient
•Resilient people cope better with difficulties
Be Resilient
6. Building Resilience
Sometimes we can
describe the ups and
downs of life as being
like a river.
The river of life takes
everyone on a different
journey, each one full of
expeditions and
adventures.
The River of Life
7. Building Resilience
When the river is
calm, it is easy to
enjoy the journey.
When this happens
in life, we feel like
everything in our
lives is going
smoothly.
Sometimes we will find
ourselves in calm waters
8. Building Resilience
When the river hits rocks,
rapids and obstacles, it
becomes much more
difficult to keep going.
When this happens in life,
we can find it much more
difficult to cope with the
ups and downs of life.
Sometimes we will find
ourselves in difficult waters
9. Building Resilience
We can’t control what life throws at us
Sometimes we will all find ourselves in difficult waters
Everyone will enjoy times in the calm waters
Do you know?
This is a
normal part of
life
10. Building Resilience
We are learning how to
navigate the river of life
Hi, my
name is
Skipper
I am
resilient Skipper is the captain of his ship sailing
along the river of life.
Just like you, Skipper experiences a
range of ups and downs everyday.
He is learning how to navigate his
boat around the obstacles and has
even got better at coping when his
ship gets into difficulties.
12. Building Resilience
Skipper wasn’t born with an ability to
navigate his way through choppy waters
He had to learn the skills
he needed as he grew up.
Each time he met a new
challenge, he developed
ways to cope.
He now has a range of
coping strategies.
13. Building Resilience
We can all learn ways to cope
better with the river of life
Together we are going to
learn about the things that
Skipper uses to help him to
navigate the river of life
Do you know?
These things will help you
the next time you hit a
difficult patch of water
14. Skipper has found that these ten things
help him to cope with the river of life
26. Building Resilience
Imagine your body is like a boat
journeying along the river of life.
You are learning to navigate your
way around the obstacles.
Just like Skipper, you are the
captain of your ship.
We can learn to cope
with the river of life
27. Building Resilience
So they:
• may have a tricky time coping with
obstacles in their path
• have little protection from the
storms and cold water
Some captains have few
things to help them
Do you know?
Without these things you will not be
as well equipped to tackle the river’s
obstacles.
28. Building Resilience
So they:
• can find new paths when obstacles
block their way
• are better equipped to protect
themselves in the difficult waters
• have ways to get back to the calmer
waters
Some captains have
more things to help
Do you know?
The more of these things we have,
the more resilient we will be
29. Building Resilience
Resilience Role Models
Ask yourself…
Do you know someone who
has faced a challenge or set
back?
What were the things
that helped?
30. Building Resilience
Activity
Think of someone who
demonstrates resilience.
Create a poster of a
Resilience Role Model.
Share at next week’s
Assembly
Look for examples of
Resilience Role Models.
What helped them get
through their difficult time?
31. Building Resilience
Stronger
by Stephen Fischbacher
What do you do when you trip up?
What do you do when you stumble?
Do you stay down on the ground?
Or get back on your feet again?
What do you do when you fall down?
What do you do when you tumble?
Do you stay down on the ground?
Or get back on your feet again?
32. Building Resilience
Stronger, you’ll be stronger
Stronger, you’ll be stronger
Every time you get back
Every time you get back up
What do you do when you fail it?
What do you do when you lose it?
Do you stay down on the ground?
Or get back on your feet again?
33. Building Resilience
What do you do when you miss it?
What do you do when you blow it?
Do you stay down on the ground?
Or get back on your feet again?
Stronger, you’ll be stronger
Stronger, you’ll be stronger
Every time you get back
Every time you get back up
S – T – R – O – N – G – E – R (X 4)
34. Building Resilience
We have learned that…
Everyone goes
through ups and
downs in life
and there are
things that can
help us to cope
43. What have you done today that makes
YOU feel proud?
Hannah in Ami and Tami Fringe Show!
44. What have you done today that makes
YOU feel proud?
Faye in ‘Creepy Macbeth’ Fringe Show!
45. What have you done today that makes
YOU feel proud?
Hola Zoe and P4A learning colours in
Spanish! Estupendo!
46. What have you done today that makes
YOU feel proud?
Aiden and Louis
Maths Competition in China!
47. BELIEVE • ACHIEVE
If what I am is what's in me
Then I'll stay strong - that's who I'll be
And I will always be the best
Me that I can be
There's only one me, I am it
Have a dream I'll follow it
It's up to me to try
Chorus
Oh! I’m a keep my head up high (high)
Keep on reaching high (high)
Never gonna quit
I'll keep getting stronger
And nothing's gonna bring me down (no!)
Never gonna stop, gotta go (go)
Because I know
I'll keep getting stronger
“What I Am Is..” by Will.i.am
48. BELIEVE • ACHIEVE
And what I am is - thoughtful
And what I am is - musical
And what I am is - smart
And what I am is - brave
And what I am is - helpful
And what I am is - special
There's nothing I can't achieve
because in myself I believe and...
Chorus
Oh! Gonna keep our heads up high (high)
Keep on reaching high (high)
Never gonna quit
Just keep getting stronger
And nothing's gonna bring us down (no!)
Never giving up, gotta go (go)
Because I know
I'll keep getting stronger
“What I Am Is..” by Will.i.am
49. BELIEVE • ACHIEVE
What I am is - super
What I am is - proud
What I am is - friendly
What I am is - grouchy
What you are is – magical
And what you are is – special
There's nothing I can't achieve
because in myself I believe and...
Chorus
Oh! Gonna hold my head up high (high)
Keep on reaching high (high)
I'm never gonna stop
I'll keep getting stronger
Nothing's gonna bring me down
Never give it up gotta go, oh... yeah...
I'll keep getting strong-er
“What I Am Is..” by Will.i.am
Suggestion….Play ‘River’ by Emile Sande as the children enter assembly
To understand how to navigate our river, we need to understand that….
The first of these learning points is….. Everyone goes through ups and downs in their lives.
Our lives, experiences, upbringing and families are all different but it would be fair to say…everyone has ups and downs!
You may want to explain the river concept further…
It begins from a tiny pool in the mountains (just like a baby)
The young river begins to flows quickly with lots of energy (imagine a tiny toddler off to discover the world)
In the middle age of a river’s journey, it gets wider and slows down. It divides into branches (the river has grown up and has built up lots of knowledge and experiences)
As it becomes an old river, it slows down and reaches the end of it’s journey
You may want to expand on what we mean by life going smoothly
Explain the rocks, rapids and obstacles in life e.g. falling out with a friend, moving house, family break ups, bereavement, being bullied...any number of unforeseen circumstances.
It may be helpful to describe the surge of wild water is like being tossed about and not being able to put our feet down to steady ourselves (like being on the rapids at a waterpark!)
Sometime things happen which leave us feeling up…. Discuss the pictures
Sometimes other things happen which leave us feeling down…. Discuss the pictures
Introduce ‘Skipper’ – skipper is another name for captain!
Skipper is resilient
Skipper is going help us all to be more resilient
We all have different things that we use that can help to make us more resilient….
Some of the things are things that we can do automatically – others are things we need to learn
The ability to deal with challenges that life throws at us is not something that we're either born with or we aren't. One of the most exciting findings from recent research is that coping strategies, like many other life skills, can be learned, practiced and honed - often with wide reaching effects on the quality of our lives
The good news is….
These are tools that we can add to our boat, which we can used when we are in challenging times. Even if you are not going through any particular challenges at the moment, everyone of us can benefit from stocking up on more tools and techniques for coping. We can bank them until later when we will need them. Over time we will visit each of these tools separately and learn more about them and how we can use them to help us.
When people go through difficult times, we know there are some things that help them to keep going. We can learn what these are through reflecting on what has happened and by talking about it.
Your body is the ship or vessel and you (the ‘I am’ presence) are the captain of your ship
Ask the children what things helped Yusra and make links to the toolkit.
SHOULDER PARTNER TASK: Role Model – there are a lots of others…Can you think of a someone who you know who has faced a challenge or setback, did they buckle – tell a shoulder partner….. Ask for examples from the children
Family Task
Create a poster of someone who demonstrates resilience. It can be someone you know, a personality from the field of sport, music or media or a character in a book or film. Label your poster with the character traits that has helped them get through difficult times.
Class Task
Further explanation in the lesson plans for this unit
Introduce song
Skipper has a song which is all about strengthening our boat every time we are knocked own. We will becomes stronger every time we stand back up again…
IMPORTANT TO REINFORCE THE KEY MESSAGE FROM THIS UNIT
Skipper has taught us the importance of building our resilience…. and getting back up when life gets up down….
Skipper has taught us the importance of building our resilience…. and getting back up when life gets up down….