We’ve been exploring our “values” with our inner Advocacy team in Learning Pioneers, and, importantly, how we live those values. It can be so easy to pay “lip service” to the values we hope to embed in our learning communities, whether online or in person, but how do we ensure we live and breath those values? How do we make sure they are part of the DNA of our learning organisation? The discussion with our team really got me thinking about how we move from “laminating” to “living” values and embed them into our organisations, day-to-day actions and school cultures.
So, it was awesome to visit Heath Mount school in Herts, UK, and see values being lived and embedded across the school.
I don’t think any school would claim to not care about staff or student well-being. But, how is this lived and breathed throughout the school?
Here’s a few ways I saw well-being being front and centre in Heath Mount:
1) Quite simply, I was made to feel very welcome – from staff members smiling and saying “hello”, to being made cups of tea, to 6 year olds passing me cutlery for my lunch, you could tell that relationships, kindness and being welcoming were at the heart of the school.
2) The staff room “sang” well-being – led by Anna Taylor, there were multiple opportunities to feel calm and well, from a staff book exchange, to jigsaw puzzles to bath treats (how nice is that?!). Here’s a few pics:
3. Classrooms also had well-being integrated into them. One example is above, valuing calm and self-regulation. Here’s another example I loved: Building yoga dens in the construction area:
4. Outdoor learning was valued and planned in.
I mean, it would be rude not to – Heath Mount has incredible grounds. It could still be wasted though and it wasn’t. Forest school was also really intentional, threading in Learning Power, “being”, challenge and music. Here are a few pics:
Wonderings:
- What can you see that you love and could magpie or adapt?
- How do you embed and value well-being in your schools and classrooms?
- How else could well-being be valued?
I’d love to read your reflections in the comments of this blog post, or tag me on Twitter (@beckycarlzon) or LinkedIn.
P.S. If you value intentionally developing well-being in your school and classroom, check out mine and Adrian Bethune’s “Well-being” course in Learning Pioneers. It’s been designed to help you build well-being into your day in an easy, implementable, no-nonsense way. Check it out here.
