We are very excited to announce that King Edward VI Handsworth Wood Girls' Academy is embarking on a year-long partnership with The Positive Group, bringing the Positive Programme to the school.
Psychological health is fundamental to how we experience life. It impacts everything - from academic and professional performance through to relationships and physical health. Learning to protect and nourish our psychological health is a key element of a good education. The school want to build on the Foundation's ethos of care and guidance, to ensure that all members of the school community have the knowledge and skills to proactively improve their psychological health and wellbeing.
Who are positive?
Positive was set up in 2011 with the vision of using research in psychology and neuroscience to help individuals and organisations optimise their wellbeing and performance. Focusing on prevention and sustainable change, the aim is to equip individuals and teams with practical skills that enable them to improve and maintain their psychological health and performance. Alongside their work in schools, Positive has partnered with universities including Oxford, UCL and UAL, and leading global organisations including Clifford Chance, KPMG, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and Save the Children.
Positive is unique in that it champions a comprehensive approach to psychological wellbeing, delivering transformative learning, starting with the staff population. The Positive Programme aims to improve and maintain the psychological health, wellbeing and resilience of school staff. Resilient teachers perform better under pressure, have better cognitive function, greater tolerance of uncertainty, experience better physical health and are more effective at positively influencing and motivating students.
Teacher wellbeing has significant implications for the individual teacher, their colleagues, their students and the school more broadly. The Positive Programme provides a toolkit of cognitive, behavioural and social skills that are known to grow and protect good psychological health. It uses insights from psychology, neuroscience and the medical sciences to build capability. Staff are equipped with knowledge and tools that can help them build resilience and better manage everyday challenges, and then supported in translating their learning for colleagues and students. In this way, the programme can drive sustainable, school-wide positive change.
