Conferences at LJMU

Mental Health and Well-being

After the success of last year’s first Mental Health and Well-being Conference, LJMU hosted another on Friday 4 th May. Student teachers from all routes were treated to a variety of activities delivered by a range of experts from NQTs and experienced teachers to pupils themselves!

Suzanne Evans (Assistant Head, PSHE Lead and Mentor) from Broadgreen Primary school demonstrates ‘Alf on a Line’ to visualise good to bad mental health e.g. using Tom Daley as an example.

Broadgreen primary school, as a Stonewall Champion School, has worked wonders, particularly with its 37% Pupil Premium, and Suzanne encouraged LJMU partners to visit if you can.

Suzanne from Broadgreen Primary also brought some resources for us to play with, including a card sort and board games.

Over lunch, Years 5 and 6 pupils from Knotty Ash Primary and Archbishop Blanch Secondary School moved us with dance routines recently performed at the Liverpool NOW Festival

We love this Twitter selfie of Luciana Berger MP, who gave the keynote!

The pupils presented their experiences… Mark Whitehall, Head Teacher at Gayton Primary School in West Wirral brought two pupils along to tell us all about how they use creativity and role play to explore mental health. We were treated to a clip from the Pixar film, Inside Out, which is used by the school as a stimulus to talk about pupils’ feelings. Mark encouraged visits to the school if you can as the pupils are more than willing to present what they’ve done, as we found out…

The day’s activities were captured on Twitter: #LJMUITEMHC18

Staff comments Senior Lecturer, Andrea Pratt said she was blown away by the engagement of speakers and students and thanked the tech and admin support of all those involved.

Dr Cheryl Bolton, Director of the School of Education, was overwhelmed by the cooperation from partners to create such a vibrant day for trainees.

Delegate comments Katie, on the PGDE Secondary route, found the session on Looked After Children really useful. The whole day provided a different way of looking at mental health. Briony and Kelsey added that the LAC session was relevant to others, not just LACs.Lily Murphy said it was great to be given the time to really concentrate on something so important.

Holly, Primary School Direct, said the day was helpful for when you get a job. She’s learnt about stories to help children with their mental health.

For Louisa, PGDE secondary Maths, it was a valuable experience for signposting resources and Billy, PGDE Secondary Science, mentioned how the variety has made them well-equipped for themselves and pupils.

Heather, PGCE School Direct, Geography spoke about digital literacy to help with mental health. She has found out about education support charities and, most importantly, the day has been valuable in taking time out to focus.

Left to right: Head Teacher, Mark Whitehall; Year 5 pupil, Amelia (age 9) reading her acrostic poem about feelings; Year 6 pupil, Bea (age 11) giving a speech about what they do at Gayton Primary.

Sue Chester Assistant Head Teacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead at Fazakerley High School Sue (depicted right) imparted her pearls of wisdom and experience to raise awareness and improve the understanding of emotional difficulties experienced by children. She focused upon how the impact of a variety of experiences can manifest themselves through challenging behaviours in the classroom.

Philosophy 4 Children

LJMU proudly hosted School Improvement Liverpool’s Philosophy 4 Children Conference on 26 th April with the focus: Building Enquiring Minds. Out of the 50 in attendance (mainly from the primary sector but a couple from EYFS and secondary), about half had been involved in P4C training before. Here’s how individuals responded to some of our questions…

What’s your experience of P4C? “We’re new to it at West Derby.”

“At Halewood Church of England School we’re new to it too. Next generation. Some staff are interested already and have been trying out aspects so our next step is a whole-school push.”

Odile Coleman

What inspired you to come today? “We’re thinking about starting it at St Francis de Sales.”

Paul from Liverpool City Council had visited Pleasant Street Primary School and was impressed by the level and intensity of pupil conversations.

“We have silver at St Michael in the Hamlet and today has re-inforced just how it’s changed our school.”

Sally Burch

“We’re in the first year of a three-year EEF research trial looking at the cultural change across the school.”

Michael Sheerin, Lander Road Primary, Litherland.

Diane Mills from Phoenix Primary has used it for SEND and says ‘we’re quite far along but today has given me ideas for different things.

What will you take away from today? Leanne Blackburn, St Ethelwolds Primary School, Wales ‘it aligns with the four principles of the new curriculum in Wales, which is being implemented in stages, so it has been incredibly useful.’ Sally – ‘listening more to the pupils’ questions.‘ Rachel Jackson, LJMU ‘P4C actually stands for ‘Philosophy for Children/ Colleges/ Communities so there are resources for 16-20 year-olds too!’

“It’s already embedded in Christ the King Primary, Childwall, led by our LSAs. We’re here for a refresher and to network.” Ann Flynn.

What have you enjoyed about the day? “Nick from BBC’s What’s the Big Idea? on CBeebies. Big fan.”

Diane Mills, Phoenix Primary

“Inspirational”. Bev Roberts, Forefield Infants

“Very enjoyable and inspiring”. Luke O’Hanlon, Assistant Head Teacher at

Calderstones.

Julie McCann, School Improvement Liverpool Ltd said she was pleased that local schools are encouraging critical thinking in their learners and hopes for more collaborations between SIL, LJMU and partner schools. For more information on P4C email: julie.mccann@si.liverpool.gov.uk or follow her @Lpool_PSHE_P4C and tweet #SILP4C

The first keynote was on the impact of P4C for the whole child. Paul Jackson, of Manorfield Primary School in London, told of how their test results have gone from significantly below national average to significantly above and pointed to findings from the EEF that suggest P4C has the largest positive effect for disadvantaged children. It’s not just about academic attainment, though, it’s also improved self-esteem, confidence to speak and listening skills. They’ve been told by the local secondary that it has made a noticeable difference during transition. Paul shared that at times it seemed that some children were not engaging but they later realised that they’d actually been listening deeply. He finished by linking P4C values with leadership qualities. We can all learn from P4C!

Jane Yates brought these fabulous books in to show just how many resources can be used as stimuli for P4C! Find out more on her Reading for Pleasure Facebook group and Empathy Lab.

Lizzi Matthews is the Head Teacher of Broadwater Secondary School, Surrey, which has high levels of socio-economic deprivation. To those who think P4C is just a fad, her answer is always that it has been the single most powerful training she has ever had! It is now the ethos of school as the 4 Cs are at the forefront of everything. Lizzi believes it is transformative and creates life-long learners.

Jane Yates, whose school was the first in the North West to achieve gold in P4C, gave a session on enquiry and English. Jane (depicted above) has been doing P4C for 20+ years and she has developed a ‘Philosophers’ Backpack’ as a metaphor for the tools needed for thinking philosophically. Pupils come up with their own homework and because of choice and ownership, they usually go above and beyond anything that you could expect as a teacher!

Nick Chandley, from philosophyforschools.co.uk came from the Peak District to give the second keynote about using P4C to become an inspirational teacher. He started by quoting Hopkins (1941) that philosophy is everywhere in education. It’s not about being a ‘sage on the stage’, though. It’s more about enquiry-based learning. For example, after reading a story, ask them for questions rather than asking questions. Some useful resources cited were the Question Quadrant from Phil Cam and Lipman’s analogy of philosophical dialogue. Nick (depicted above) also pointed delegates in the direction of Sara Stanley, who has some excellent resources for EYFS. Highlighting the importance of creativity, Nick got is all to discuss what would happen if cats were huge! Once we’d listed our good and bad ideas, we fed back to the room and were asked not to judge but to listen and discuss further. If you’d like to learn more, you can follow Nick on Twitter: @NickChandley or email him: nick@philosophyforschools.co.uk

Global Scholars and P4C Matt Lancaster, from Pleasant Street Primary School delivered a session on the work he’s been doing with the Oxfam initiative, Get Global. Participating schools from all over the world partake in a one-hour online lesson in an e-classroom. The platform is a bit like Facebook as users can like each other’s comments etc.. They learn who they are and others’ points of view and it really opened his children’s eyes. There is a different global topic each year with five units, each unit taking 10 weeks. They are cross-curricular, incorporating PSHE, English, maths, science, food, PE, geography etc.. For example, they might be prompted to look at adverts in the media, which are obviously going to be different in different countries. They’ve also looked at being ‘water wise’, which is a hot topic at the moment in the UK. They are the first school in the UK to participate outside of London and if you would like to know more, contact: mrlancaster@outlook.com or follow Matt on Twitter: @LancasterTeach.

Liz Astbury said LJMU was proud to host this event for the first time as it has been an excellent opportunity to link partnership schools.

65 of our trainees have completed their level 1 P4C training this year. Being qualified in this has meant they have been able to use their knowledge of P4C in schools on placement. LJMU is the only ITE institution offering this opportunity, which is great for our partner schools!