Classrooms are outdated, overwhelming and cluttered and often create barriers for children.
It is normal to walk in to a classroom full of display boards, laminated posters, washing lines and work on the walls. The room is lit by bright overhead lights and the furniture is made up of plastic chairs and standard classroom tables.
These rooms don't have the children's wellbeing and mental health and the heart. In fact they can often create barriers to learning and cause children to want to leave them!
We now have more school refusers than ever before. More children struggling with their behaviour and more children struggling to concentrate. The world is changing- but the classroom hasn't!
In this episode I...
-dive in to why I created the therapeutic classroom approach
tell you all about my first classroom make over.
-talk about the highs and lows of the therapeutic classroom approach becoming popular
-tell you about the time I nearly stopped it all and gave up
-tell you about some amazingly exciting news- I am launching a shop!!!
-give you my top tips for your own classroom spaces
I hope you LOVE this episode. I'd love to hear your comments below.
Watch the video version if you can- there's footage of the story as it unfolds.
***More information***
Sign up to find out more about my brand new therapeutic classroom furniture store: HERE
Read my therapeutic school approach book: Here
Visit the therapeutic classrooms store: HERE
Become part of our community and follow us:
Everybody is talking about trauma informed practice in schools but what does it actually mean? There are a lot of misconceptions about what trauma informed practise is and so today I'm going to explain it all for you!
In this episode I will:
More resources and support (some are free!!)
Buy my book here
Buy my audio book here
Read my articles published for Head Teachers Update Here
Explore my free help hub - full of resources, videos and help guides Here
Watch my classrooms make overs and learn more about my therapeutic classrooms Here
Buy furniture for your classroom Here
Learn more about my work
www.tpctherapy.co.uk- whole school courses, award and support
www.therapeuticclassrooms.co.uk- Classroom/ school make over service and furniture store
In this episode, I am joined by Dave Mcpartlin, Head Teacher of Flakefleet Primary School. Dave has been in leadership roles for 16 years and has been the head teacher of two schools. His approach is extremely inspiring. Dave wants the children to believe in themselves and dream big and he is on a mission to make sure that every child leaves his primary school believing in themselves and their capacity to do anything, no matter how scary that might be.
Dave leads by example and after creating a ‘dream list’ with the children, the school has been on a lot of adventures together - including being on Britain’s Got Talent and getting the Golden Buzzer in 2019, making a song that made it into the Christmas charts and opening their own community coffee shop!
Dave and I get stuck into talking about children’s mental health and wellbeing, emotional intelligence, life skills and everything that goes beyond the curriculum. We also talk about Dave’s own experiences in life, his struggles with depression and the importance of sleep and prioritising wellbeing! This episode is not to be missed, it will leave you feeling happy and inspired to make changes. You might even find yourself wanting to take more risks and dream bigger!
Links to Dave and his work:
Twitter: @dave_mcpartlin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flakefleet
Britain’s got talent snippet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itSbV3YiRkI
You have to listen to this episode! John Magee is the kindest coach and the UK’s kindness ambassador for schools. He shares kindness with teachers and cultivates kind classrooms in hundreds of schools throughout the UK. He is a father, speaker, author and mentor to leaders in education. I loved having this conversation with John whose energy and purpose is soaked in self-development, positive psychology, happiness and connective relationships. There are so many pearls of wisdom to take away as he talks us through his own experience of childhood trauma, adversity in his adult life and how through all of that, he set up his own business and dedicated his life to helping hundreds of children and teachers across the UK. Get your notepad and paper out for this one because there are so many things you can take away!
Links to John and his work:
Johns courses and website: https://kindnessmatters.co.uk/
Twitter: @KindnessCoach_
John's book: Kindness Matters
Johns book: The Happy Tank
This week’s podcast episode is with Daniel Croft, the CEO and vice chair for fostering and social work organisations across Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada! Daniel is on a mission to make a change to the fostering landscape. His goal? To improve conditions, pay, transfer options and create a global impact on as many children and families' lives as possible.
Daniel's journey is nothing short of inspirational. I wanted to sit down with him and explore how he got to where he is today and what his hopes are for the future of children in care. In this episode, Daniel shares his own life experience, which includes being raised by parents who were foster carers and talks us through the circumstances that led him to where he is today.
His story reminds us that anybody can do anything they set their mind to and if we lead from a place of passion and inspiration, our impact can be a great one.
Join us for the first episode of the Inspiring Leaders series with the amazing Poppy Gibson. Poppy, a senior lecturer and course lead in primary education at Ruskin University. If you follow her on social media, you will see she spends lots of her time delivering talks, writing books and doing research for education. As a mum of 3 focused on children’s wellbeing and mental health, Poppy's work is driven by a desire to help others and make a difference.
In this episode, we discuss various topics including parenting, children’s mental health, education, wellbeing and self-care. We discover the personal journey and life experiences she has experienced, including her struggle with sepsis. Despite life’s challenges, Poppy has gone on to do incredible things such as authoring books, visiting #10 Downing Street, and welcoming a refugee family from the Ukraine into her home.
Join us as we explore Poppy's inspirational story and learn valuable insights and tips to use in our own lives.
Links to Poppy and her work:
Twitter: @poppygibsonuk
Poppy’s book: A Home for a Ukrainian
Have you been following my Therapeutic Classrooms Approach? Last Year the amazing Paul Dix interviewed me on Teacher Hug Radio! We managed to get a copy and so here it is, just for you on our Therapeutic Teacher Podcast.
In this quick 15min chat, Paul and I talk about the first school who was brave enough to hand their classroom over to me to be transformed, what a therapeutic classroom is and why we need more of them in the UK!
Find out more about The Therapeutic Classroom Approach:
Follow Shahana's Head Teacher Update diary entries which follow the story of Shevington Vale ( her first school) and then others that followed. https://www.headteacher-update.com/search-results/shahana-knight/81/1/
Watch our Reinventing Classrooms You Tube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@tpctherapyltd5124/videos
Visit our website:
https://www.tpctherapy.co.uk/therapeutic-classrooms
Learn more about Paul Dix and his work and the Teacher Hug Radio here:
https://teacherhug.co.uk/
The Path Meditation is a 7 minute guided Meditation, let me know what your class thinks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACOlnosx8_o
Lockdown has been a rough year for us all, we have felt anxious and powerless. We have felt alone and at risk.. many of us have battled with our wellbeing and our mental health as a result. Feeling low, teary or withdrawn, getting angry, frustrated and snappy. We can feel the effects. One year of collective trauma has impacted us all emotionally and mentally. But it is important to remember, we have had one year...just one… what about those children who have had a whole life of trauma? Who feels alone, anxious, powerless and at risk every single day? This is a good opportunity to step into their shoes, drawing comparisons from our own experiences to what it might be like for them. This will help you support them when you go back to school and also for years to come. The impact of trauma is long-lasting and we have all had a taste of it. Let’s not forget, not everyone's trauma will end after lockdown.
In this podcast, we explore comparisons between lockdown and trauma in relation to:
What it feels like to always be disappointed
What it feels like to have no control
How anxiety can grow
Developing a negative mindset
We have had this for 1 year and there are so many lasting effects. We now get a small sense of what it might be like for children experiencing trauma all their lives. No wonder things feel so hard!!!
We need to utilise these experiences to best support our vulnerable pupils and put their frame of reference at the heart of the day-to-day. When we don’t live it, it is hard to appreciate how hard it is – use this as your opportunity to get some insight.
Take our free course to help you prepare your support for them in the months to come:
https://support.tpcteach.co.uk/free_1111
Take our full therapeutic teaching course and learn how to focus on wellbeing and mental health as part of your embedded practices and core aims:
https://www.tpctherapy.co.uk/therapeutic-teaching-course
Book on to our wellbeing curriculum platform and use the resources and lesson plans to support the children:
https://www.tpctherapy.co.uk/wellbeing-curriculm
This week is children’s mental health week and the focus is expressing yourself. It is a great time to do lessons and assemblies on this with the children BUT it goes well beyond that. In order to learn something we have to do it over and over again, it takes time and repetition to really take on a new way of doing something. This is why we spend so much time focusing on handwriting and reading. If we really want children to learn to take care of their own mental health by expressing themselves then we have to teach them how to do that in a multitude of ways to help them truly learn how. A lesson on expressing yourself through art or a drama session isn’t enough, in fact, it is more of an introduction.
In today’s episode, we are going to discuss 4 key ways that will really teach children to express themselves as a means to support their mental health.
1. Creating a feeling of being comfortable with a creative medium
2. Adding small daily practices into your day with the children in school that promote self-expression
3. Teaching children to use self-expressive tools to regulate themselves when they need it most
4. Modelling self-expression
If we really want to make a difference to children’s mental health and give them the tools to express themselves then we must commit to this every single day.
If you love today’s episode please share it with someone to spread the word and help this podcast reach more people
On today’s podcast, we are going to look at 4 ways children communicate stress that you might not know.
As a collective, children’s stress levels are likely to be higher now than they have been in a long time. This episode explores different factors that can cause higher stress levels in children and then we will unpick how this might manifest itself day to day. When you see a child in the classroom fidgeting or messing with their shoelaces it is easy to assume this child is being silly or even that they are choosing to behave that way. However, if we look a bit closer, there is often more to it than that! Let’s look at 4 specific ways that children in your class might be communicating stress and touch on what you can do to help.
Press play now!
"I am not a leader" you might say. But you are!!
It is so easy to forget that we are all leaders in our own unique way. Whether you are an Executive Head, Headteacher or SENCO, whether you are the CEO of a business or employee..a mother or a father.. You are leading. What you say, what you believe and how you communicate influences the people around you. It has meaning.. Imagine you are stood in the sea, what you do creates small ripples around you that extend out and impact others. Those ripples can become waves.
What waves are you creating?
This year, choose to lead with more intention. What can you do to make a difference? How can you use your unique strengths & interests to inspire those around you? A good leader uses their influence to guide others, create positive change in thoughts, beliefs and practices.. You can do that. In whatever role you are in. Your leading either way. So use your words, stories, passions and unique self to step into a year of inspirational leadership and let's get those waves going!
Every one of us has the power to create change..So as Gandhi said - "Be the change you wish to see in the world"
Happy New Year's EVE!!!
Today’s episode is really special because we are going to set our new year's intentions together!
This year has been rough but it is important that we look back and take stock. Let’s think about what we have learnt and how we have grown and then lets set some intentions for 2021.
Did you sign up to take part in this challenge in advance? If so, check your emails – you will have received a workbook from us. You can download this, print it off and join in! If you missed the signup link, then you can download the workbook.
https://support.tpcteach.co.uk/new-year-eve-workbook
What you need:
I can’t wait to get into this episode with you today - press play now!
Merry Christmas!
This year has been a crazy one, full of ups and downs but as we walk into the Christmas holidays. Let us remember that Christmas is a time of peace and joy. You deserve to laugh, play silly games, eat too much food and focus on yourself for a little while. Forget the news, forget what tier you are in, don't give it the power to ruin this much-needed festive time. You deserve to down tools and rest.
We are wishing you lots of happiness in 2021 and we'll see you in the New Year!
Things have been really tricky this last year and you have worked pretty much all year without a proper break. It's been emotionally draining and Christmas is an opportunity to stop and focus on your own wellbeing. I know everyone talks about ‘wellbeing’ and having time to rest and it's so easy to prioritise that last on a long list of ‘to do’s’ but today we are going to look at why it is so important to focus on your wellbeing this Christmas! I will talk you through 10 easy but impactful ways to help you prioritise you and your own happiness and get yourself emotionally prepared for stepping back into the classroom in January.
Free resources:
Written meditation: support.tpcteach.co.uk/free-meditation-resources
Guided meditation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAaALGLf5vs&t=153s
Have you ever noticed that some children really struggle with their behaviour and concentration on the run-up to Christmas? Do you find them struggling to follow simple instructions, interact with peers and concentrate? Are they struggling to manage emotions and having more outbursts?
This podcast episode looks at why. It's easy to assume it is because children are tired because it’s the end of term - but there may be other reasons too, especially for your more vulnerable children. Holidays can often be a source of fear, isolation and trauma.
In this episode, we explore why vulnerable children may be struggling on the run-up to Christmas and what you can do to help increase their feelings of safety and security before they break up for the holiday. We then look at what you can do to help them settle back into school when they return.
Ready to take on our New Years Eve challenge, click the link below to get your free workbook and join us on the 31st December.
https://support.tpcteach.co.uk/new-year-eve-workbook
What is childhood trauma and how does it impact the children at school?
In today’s episode, we are going to unpick what trauma is and how it presents itself in the children you teach. With everything going on at school it's sometimes easy to forget that a child’s reality might be very different from the other children’s in your class. It's often so hard to conceptualise what life must be like for children who are experiencing trauma. Often we can reel of what they have experienced but we can't understand it at our core. I have the unique experience of being a child who was living through trauma whilst attending primary school AND then being the professional therapist who got to see children living with trauma come into my playroom every day and literally see their world unfold as they would play out themes and scenarios and feelings every day. I wanted to share that insight with you this week.
This episode is not one to be missed! Are you ready to see beyond the child you see in the classroom? Press play now!
To find out more about play therapy visit our website here
www.tpctherapy.co.uk/play-therapy
I often hear teachers commenting that a child in their school has “Kicked off” and I want to dive in today’s episode and unpick how we can help these children. Often when we deal with a difficult behaviour incident we focus all of our attention on the behaviour and we forget that the behaviour has a reason. It's always a sign that a child is struggling with something and instead of trying to stop the behaviour we need to begin to focus on helping guide the child.
Children need to be taught how to manage their feelings and struggles by a caring adult who recognises that they are struggling and need help, they do not need to be punished for having a difficult feeling and learn that their need for support is met with rejection.
In this episode, we will explore some key steps to supporting children through a ‘kick off’ therapeutically, keeping connection and teaching at the core of the approach.
I hope you love today's episode, please share it with others if you do!