Acknowledgements

I thought that writing a second edition of Wellbeing In The Primary Classroom would be much easier than writing the first book from scratch. How wrong I was. Fortunately, I had the support of my editor, Emily Badger, who made sure that this edition was the best it could be. Thank you for your feedback and comments – this book is better for them.

I’d like to thank my wife, Sam, for once again reading my writing and offering a non-teacher perspective on it. Your insights were invaluable and also your encouragement when I was struggling to find the motivation to write!

I am indebted to the teachers who gave up their time to contribute to the ‘Tales from the classroom’ sections. These anecdotes really help the theory come to life and show what’s possible, so thanks to: Sophie Tong-Smith, Rhiannon PhillipsBianco, Ben Levinson OBE, Kate Chadwick, Cat Peterson, Holly Laceby (special props to you as you wrote your section not that long after giving birth to twins!!) and Sara Mekhari. Thanks again to a range of experts who read my chapters, offered insights or pointed me in the right direction in terms of research and ideas: Prof. Katherine Weare, Chris Wright at the Youth Sport Trust, Louise Moore at the Children’s Society, Rick Hanson, Louis Cozolino, Ruby Wax, Debbie Johnson, Mark Williamson, Vanessa King, Peter Harper, John Ratey, Emma Kell, Yvonne Biggins, Vicki Zakrzewski and Tal Ben-Shahar.

Finally, I want to thank all of the children and my colleagues, especially Charlie Reed and Lizzy Rackham, at Broughton Community Schools. You have allowed me to try ideas out, kept me laughing and inspired many of the new ideas in this book!

Foreword

When Adrian asked me whether I’d be willing to write the foreword for the new edition of his book, my first thoughts were, ‘But why do we need a second edition?’ (mixed with a heap of joy at being asked, of course). You see, I absolutely love the first edition of this book and have been recommending it regularly since it hit our shelves back in 2018. It felt like such a comprehensive and complete offering and was serving the needs of primary school communities so well that I was unsure what a second edition could bring. But on reading the manuscript, I fell in love with Adrian’s ideas and approach anew and saw that the second edition had the possibility of bringing joy, happiness and wellbeing in its many forms to our classrooms in the current context – because so much has changed in the few years since that first edition.

Our communities find themselves reeling and looking uncertainly towards the future as we try to pick ourselves up and brush ourselves off after the wheels fell off during the pandemic. Society has changed, our children have changed, our staff are physically and emotionally exhausted and, as I write this in the spring of 2023, ‘The Good Childhood Report 2022’ by The Children’s Society (2022) has recently been released and showed that, yet again, our children became less happy in the last year and that the thing that is making them most miserable of all is school.

It can all feel a bit bleak. But let’s take a moment to focus on the positives, as Adrian teaches us to in Chapter 3. You see, in those early pandemic days, when it felt like the world stopped spinning on its axis and nobody knew what to do next, the one thing that we could rely on was our schools. Whilst many other people took cover at home, our schools remained open (sometimes only partially and sometimes only remotely, but you guys never packed your bags and jacked it in, unlike so many of us!). Schools became safe hubs right at the heart of communities. They were not just places of learning but were also sources of food, clothing, advice, love, consistency, care… all the things that really matter. In those early months, when things were at their hardest, a beautiful thing happened in schools because they were left to fend for themselves. Nobody knew what to do and so you just had to crack on without the demands of Ofsted and the next time that the children would be measured. With limited resources and no playbook, you simply had to do what felt right.

You did an amazing job.

The things that schools prioritised during the pandemic –connection, care, curiosity and calm – were exactly what our children needed at the time and, arguably, all the time. Adrian’s book picks up on that – and shows you how to make these vital elements a part of your everyday so that this generation can grow through and from adversity and become stronger adults as a result. The book is a wonderful journey through the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of nurturing children to live their happiest lives, so that they can thrive both at school and beyond it.

The second edition is needed because we’re living in a different world to the one for which the first edition was written. Our priorities have changed, the children coming up through our primary schools are noticeably different to their recent predecessors, and our ability to teach them (in the widest sense of the word) has been altered by our own experiences. The book is brilliant and it took me an age to read it because I took so many notes and had to go and do a tonne of thinking in between digesting ideas. It’s one of those books that presents a complete set of answers if you’d like to use it off the shelf, but it also acts as the most fabulous jumpingoff point if you’re prepared to take some of the ideas and run with them and make them your own too. It makes you excited to get started and keen to see the impact on the young people whom you’re supporting.

Personally, I am a very logical thinker and doer; I consider this one of my autistic superpowers and if you’ve ever watched me speak you’ll have observed this in action. However, this can get in the way a little bit when reading the works of those who are less structured. This is categorically not a problem with Adrian’s book, which will be a real gift to anyone who wants to be able to dip in and out and refer back to good ideas later.

Each chapter has a clear focus and starts with the ‘Why’, where you’ll learn all about the theory and the research underpinning exactly why Adrian feels that this particular line of practice would be a good use of your children’s learning time. You’ll have all the evidence that you need to bring those less sure around, and will be reassured that you’re making good choices for your curriculum. It can be easy to doubt this amongst so much talk of catch-up and closing the gap. I honestly think that finding a way to incorporate as many of the themes in this book as possible as a standard part of the everyday school culture for all children would lead to schools that our children are excited to attend, at which our staff are delighted to lead learning and in which our families are fully invested. The gap would naturally close.

I’ll step off my soapbox now and return to the mechanics of the book… the ‘Why’ is followed with the ‘How’ – and hurrah for that, because theory is very interesting, but time-poor teachers need ideas about exactly how to make this work in their classrooms right away. You need to know what you can do differently tomorrow as a result of something that you’ve learned today, and Adrian gives you that in spades. He has also outlined dozens of case studies from schools all over the world, who share ideas and inspiration about what this looks like in practice. Each of these filled me with a warm glow and gratitude for the amazing adults creating wonderful environments for children, as well as excitement for the many more who could follow, because if they can do it, then you can too, right?

I love this book. I hope that you will too. It’s one of the best weapons that you could possibly add to your armoury when trying to make a difference to the children you work with and care for. With these ideas, you can make meaningful change happen in many young lives, whether as one person trying to make a difference or as part of a wider team.

Foreword

Start with something small; the changes so small that you are sure you can make them tomorrow and then the next day and the next are often the changes that make the biggest difference of all. You make more difference than you’ll ever know and the passion that you pour into your work has ripples that are felt across a lifetime for the children in your care. Thank you a million times for all that you’ve done through these hardest of times and all that you continue to do each day for our communities, and thank you to Adrian for giving you the tools to do it even better.

Dr Pooky Knightsmith, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Expert

Pooky has a PhD in child mental health from the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. She is the author of several books and is a former chair of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition. Pooky is a Director at Creative Education Limited and at Pooky Knightsmith Associates. Pooky is autistic; a late diagnosis has helped her to thrive following many years of anorexia, depression and anxiety.