Positive Education & Berry Street

At Holy Family Catholic School the wellbeing of our children and their families is a priority. Positive Education brings together the science of Positive Psychology, developed by Professor Martin Seligman with best practice teaching to encourage and support individuals, schools and communities to flourish. Flourishing is a combination of ‘feeling good and doing good.’ Positive Education focuses on specific skills that assist children to strengthen their relationships, build positive emotions, enhance personal resilience, promote mindfulness, and encourage a healthy lifestyle.

This year we will be focusing on developing the following strategies which, help to build positive emotion:

  • Bucket Filling – encourages positive behaviour as children see how rewarding it is to express daily kindness and gratitude. Bucket filling and dipping are effective metaphors for understanding the effects of our actions and words on the wellbeing of others and ourselves.
  • Specks of Gold – intentionally looking for, noticing and being grateful for the good things that happen in our day – the ‘specks of gold’. We will encourage children to look for at least three specks of gold each day.
  • Mindfulness – being aware of the present and acknowledging our surroundings, thoughts and feelings. We will develop mindfulness through daily practice including guided meditations, mindful walks and other exercises that involve focusing on the different senses.
  • Mindsets – refers to our own views about our ability to learn. We will be encouraging children to develop a growth mindset by understanding that their brain is like a muscle that can grow, change and get stronger through persevering, putting in effort, not giving up and giving things a try.

 

The Berry Street Education Model provides schools with the training, curriculum and strategies to engage even the most challenging students. This education initiative is different because it is based on proven positive education, trauma-informed and wellbeing practices that enable students’ academic and personal growth. The model is unique because it educates schools and their leaders to reinforce and sustain cognitive and behavioural change, thereby re-engaging young people in learning and progressing their academic achievement.” (Berry Street Childhood Institute).