My role with Landywood Primary School includes my work as a careers adviser, life coach and relaxation coach. My company is called Calm Careers, so classes reflect this- a calm class one half term and then a careers class the next. Both incorporate ideas on emotional wellbeing, resilience and growth mindset and are planned in line with the character curriculum and the schools vision tree.
We spend time thinking about what our learning (and relaxation) style is, that we are in charge of our own actions and consider where we might need to improve along the way. We practice breathing techniques, experience moments of calm and help train our brain mindfully, to pay attention to our bodies and what is going on around us. These skills are imperative for our young people to learn, especially in a world where resilience is needed now more than ever.
We also find out about careers and jobs in our community and the world. We think about the skills and strengths the role demands and consider if its something we might be interested in. This is not to make our children make up their mind now on the future career- its about educating and inspiring and helping break stereotypes too. Lots of studies show that children as young as 7 years old have already made up their mind of what they are capable of or should do. Our careers programme is written to support with this, to show that girls can be engineers or mechanics and boys can do nursing or teaching jobs too! We then have a careers day at the end of the year where we get to meet some amazing, inspiring people and ask lots of questions.
I think the fact the Landywood Primary School fund this learning is amazing, as it shows a commitment to the children’s emotional wellbeing, inspiring careers education and leads the way compared to other schools.