Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning SEAL as a Resource Background Various terms used nationally: Personal and social development Emotional literacy Emotional intelligence Social and emotional competence Social, emotional and behavioural skills (SEBS) SEBS is what SEAL was originally called, but by calling it Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning, the emphasis moves away from it being solely a tool for behaviour. SEAL grew out of the B&A pilots in LA (not ours) and in its first stages was secondary based but primary SEAL has moved faster and further. Secondary SEAL is coming on line this year (5 schools – Earls High, Redhill, Wordsley, Ellowes Hall, High Arcal). Universal approach – B&A and PHSE.

Social and emotional aspects of learning Reasoning Evaluation Creativity Enquiry Problem solving Information processing Communication The skills we want children to possess when they leave school, and which SEAL seeks to develop are usually considered to fall into these 5 broad social and emotional aspects of learning. These 5 fall into 2 categories: Personal – Self awareness Interpersonal – Social skills They form a subset of 12 key learning-to-learn skills, that also include thinking or cognitive skills. CLICK The materials in the Primary National Strategy’s Excellence and Enjoyment: learning and teaching in the primary years are based on these 12 key aspects of learning, so you can see how SEAL helps to support the process and some will notice them from the front page of NC document.

What does the resource offer? An explicit, structured whole-curriculum framework for developing the social, emotional and behavioural skills of all pupils, not just those whose behaviour or poor social skills cause problems Pupils develop a ‘feelings vocabulary’ which is vital for the acquisition of social skills. Skills developed through SEAL impact on: Academic achievement Self Esteem Personal responsibility Tolerance of difference Workplace effectiveness Classroom and school behaviour Inclusion Mental health These underlie almost every aspect of school, home and community life, including effective learning and getting on with others. Guidance Book Intro for staff This PowerPoint and all PowerPoints will be on website

The spiral curriculum The spiral curriculum is an important feature of the materials. The same area of learning is revisited and built on each year at an increasingly complex level. It allows all pupils in the school to be working on a shared focus that can be practised and reinforced throughout the school day.

Curriculum links Core and foundation subjects PSHE and Citizenship How does SEAL relate to what we are doing already? It is intended to supplement rather than replace the effective work already being done in schools. From the diagram, you can see it covers some areas of the core and foundation subjects and a large part of of the PSHE and Citizenship curriculum. It does not include some aspects of PSHE, such as sex education, which will need to be taught through the existing PSHE curriculum. Core and foundation subjects PSHE and Citizenship SEAL Slide 1.15

Individual intervention The ‘Waves’ model Quality first teaching of social, emotional and behavioural skills to all children Effective whole-school or setting policies and frameworks for promoting emotional health and well-being Small-group intervention for children who need additional help in developing skills, and for their families Individual intervention You will already be familiar with the Waves model. All work on social, emotional and behavioural skills represents a continuum (spiral revisiting). It offers something of benefit to all children, but some will need increased differentiation in the form of small group or one-to-one support, and SEAL provides supplementary resources to enable this. The main focus of SEAL is on universal entitlement to school-based work on the social and emotional aspects of learning, which is clearly positioned in Wave 1. The better the work we do with all children, the fewer there will be who need the additional help at Waves 2 and 3.

SEAL Wave 1 Wave 2 Guidance Book – very useful resource Seven sets of activities, each set around a ‘Theme’ - Theme overview - A scripted assembly + 6 variations - Colour-coded booklets within each theme giving ideas and activities for each age range Red Set (Foundation Stage) Blue 5 Set (Y1 and Y2) Yellow Set (Y3 and Y4) Green Set (Y5 and Y6) Silver Set Small group activities - Purple Set Staff activity booklet - Gold Set Family activities Wave 1 Wave 2 So, what does the resource include? A big, heavy box! Go through items on slide. As well as all this, there are also excellent resources in the form of photographs and posters, as well as a variety of resources on CD ROM and on the web site.

These are just some of the excellent photos in the resource, covering a whole range of emotions and situations, and all are also included as JPEG’s on the CD ROM, so they can be easily used in a variety of ways, such as PowerPoint presentations designed by the children.

The excellent set of posters, covering a variety of themes, are also available on the CD ROM.

As well as the photos and posters, there are also other useful resources, such as this chart of words for core feelings, intended to help develop the children’s feelings vocabulary. Other resources such as feelings fans and emotional barometers support this. Show a feelings fan

The themes A theme overview includes links to other areas of the curriculum. In each theme there are suggested stories and activities for a whole-school assembly, with follow-up suggestions for future assemblies. The assemblies are broadly secular and do not include any elements of worship, so other arrangements need to be made to meet the requirements of collective worship.

When should it be run. And how does it fit together When should it be run? And how does it fit together? Themes and structure Theme number Time of year Theme title (Assembly and associated curriculum work) Key SEBS domain addressed 1. Autumn Term: first half term 2. Autumn Term: second half term 3. Spring term: January 4. Spring term : February/March New beginnings Getting on and falling out Going for goals! Good to be me Empathy Self-awareness Self-motivation Social skills Managing feelings There are 7 themes, with suggested times of the year for them to be covered. Although theses are only suggested times, they seem logical and based on events in the school year.

When should it be run. And how does it fit together When should it be run? And how does it fit together? Themes and structure Theme number Time of year Theme title (Assembly and associated curriculum work) Key SEBS domain addressed 5. Spring term or early summer term (March/April) 6. Summer term: second half term 7. At any time but a good time would be anti-bullying week in November Relationships Changes Bullying Self-awareness Managing feelings Empathy Self motivation Social skills Show how the Bullying them slots in nicely, not just with anti-bullying week, but also with ‘Getting on and Falling Out’.

Using SEAL One or more staff meetings before each theme, using the Purple Set activities in a flexible way, to ensure consistency, knowledge, understanding and confidence A 30 minute assembly to launch each theme Dedicated sessions over the half term using the SEAL materials in a flexible way to develop social, emotional and behavioural skills for each theme – about 4 hours in total Use of ideas for following up the theme in a number of curriculum areas, and possible use of the exemplar lessons A follow-up assembly to share work undertaken and successes in achieving learning outcomes Show the purple booklet Staff means everyone – teachers, teaching assistants, learning support, admin, head. Show and briefly cover an exemplar lesson plan from one of the books. Explain how pictures from the stories can be used to add interest to the assemblies. Consistency – only happier if everyone is involved. Link back to Waves, i.e. starting at the top. All aspects of this work have been offered by Leading Practice schools – for visitors to attend throughout the year.

A whole school approach For maximum effectiveness, it is essential that the whole school community engages with the materials. All classes should be thinking about the same ideas and using a shared language over the same period of time. SEAL needs to be embedded within a whole school approach and environment that supports emotional health and well-being. We cannot emphasise this enough! Everyone means everyone!

Useful web sites www.edu.dudley.gov.uk/primary Then click on SEAL www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/publications/banda/seal/ This can also be accessed through the Dudley website.