We continue to focus on how to foster a culture of resilience; our INSET day this October kicked off to a great start with Alistair Smith reminding us of the importance of resilience and whether it can be “caught, wrought or taught”. Alistair raised some important points, of particular note that the dimensions of resilience for individuals stem from the 4 Hs: from the head, heart, health or heroics.
We reflected as a school how we could influence each of these aspects. Staff then went onto share 9 strategies to foster resilience within an educational culture using the analogy of diamonds: “no pressure, no diamonds” that if we apply bits of pressure, challenge and struggle to everyday educational experiences, the children (who are unique like a diamond) will cultivate a multitude of resilient attributes that will not only serve them well at school, but in the 21st century field of employment. We proposed 9 aspects that as a staff we should focus on in order to foster a culture of resilience, as just like our children, “a diamond was once a piece of charcoal, that handled pressure exceptionally well” and so with our students with some nurturing and exposure to ‘pressure’ they too can flourish.
Please click here for INSET strategies suggested for each of the 9 attributes, and here for the handout