Resilience
What do we mean by Resilience?
Resilience in our students is vital for both their wellbeing and success.
Resilience research has identified actions that can be taken to enable students to achieve good outcomes against the odds. We define academic resilience as students achieving good educational outcomes despite adversity. This will be a priority for us all at Burntwood this academic year.
About the Resource Pack:
The resource pack provides activities tutors can use in tutor time sessions to promote and encourage students to feel more resilient. Some activities are based on the Resilience Framework, developed by Professor Angie Hart et al to help children cope with day-to-day situations where they need to develop greater resilience. Other activities have also been referenced from Positively Teenage book, written by Nicola Morgan. Through tutor group activities, we are hoping that the students may be able to better cope with the challenging aspects of school and day-to-day life.
Aims of the Programme:
To provide tutors with an informative and practical resource which will support them in their role in building student resilience. It will help them:
- achieve positive relationships with students.
- build understanding and knowledge of students’ individual strengths and challenges, hopes and aspirations
- support students to develop resilience in a way which is appropriate to their individual circumstances.
- enable students to discuss and reflect on what well-being and positive mental health mean to them
The activities in this resource pack are structured into three parts:
Part 1: Who am I? My character, my beliefs and core skills
Part 2: My Life at School: learning and coping at school
Part 3: People, Relationships and the Wider World
Within each area there is a range of activities that can help students build resilience.
Part 1: Who am I? My character, my beliefs and core skills
Week 1: Flourish Test- it gives individuals a sense of whether they are already making good choices that will positively affect their mental and physical health. (UN CRC Article 24)
Week 2: What does FLOURISH stand for? What does well being mean to them? (UN CRC Article 24)
Week 3: How many teenage changes are they aware of? How does this affect their mood? (UN CRC Article 24)
Week 4: Know and value their character strengths-Think about: their character traits/ strengths. Make a list of which ones they need to work on. (UN CRC Article 13)
Week 5: Are you an extrovert or an introvert? Complete quiz- Positive strategies to work with different traits.(UN CRC Article 13)
Week 6: How good are they at spotting risks? Quiz- is it a dumb or a smart risk? (UN CRC Article 6)
Week 7: What’s risky to them? How do they deal with risks? (UN CRC Article 6)
Week 8: Draw two columns- A lot of control/ Little or no control. (UN CRC Article 6)
Look at the seven things and decide how much control they have over them. Discuss briefly.
Week 9: Are you a worrier? What worries you? Go back to your list of worries- decide how much control they have over them. What can they do about them? (UN CRC Article 13)
Week 10: Spotting signs of stress- how do you feel when you are stressed? What’s in my stress container? (UN CRC Article 24)
Week 11: What calms me down? (UN CRC Article 24)
Week 12: Breathing exercise- p.174 (UN CRC Article 24)
Focus on the present- mindfulness technique
Week 13: How do they cope with setbacks and disappointment? How well do they understand the power of failure? (UN CRC Article 24)
Week 14: How to reboot after a setback? Maths case studies. (UN CRC Article 28)
Week 15: How brave am I? What it would feel like to feel brave? Discuss superhero worksheet. (UN CRC Article 14)
Week 16: Are they good at problem solving? Solving problem scenarios- what could happen? (UN CRC Article 29)
Week 17: My body, my sleep routine and diet- how do they affect my mood? (UN CRC Article 24)
Week 18: How do you build on your own confidence? Try confidence work out positions. (UN CRC Article 13)
Week 19: Looking ahead- map out personal, educational goal.
Part 2: My life at School: learning and coping at school
Week 21: Your achievements at school/ what are your feelings about school? (UN CRC Article 29)
Week 22: Your classroom character strengths- which ones have you got? How will you practise/ develop your character strengths? (UN CRC Article 29)
Week 23: Understanding boundaries and keeping them (UN CRC Article 28)
Week 24: How things can go wrong? (UN CRC Article 28)
Week 25: Working through flawed thinking patterns- getting a bad grade scenario and thinking through problems. Friendship fallout? Check how different ways of thinking about the same situation can directly shape their feelings and then actions. (UN CRC Article 15)
Week 26: Are you organized? Organization case studies- how to get organised? (UN CRC Article 28)
Week 27: Strategies to deal with stressful day at school- what can you do to calm yourself down? Visualisation activity. (UN CRC Article 24)
Week 28: Re-wiring your brain- toolbox tactics- apply the techniques to Academic Armageddon. (UN CRC Article 28)
Week 29: Build better resilience- ‘growth mindset’ versus ‘fixed mindset’. Exercise: turn ‘negative feelings’ into positive. (UN CRC Article 24)
Week 30: What do they do at school that is going to ensure they enjoy their day? What are they working towards? What are their goals? (UN CRC Article 29)
Week 31: How will they practice the character strengths needed in a classroom. Chart the good things that happen weekly. (UN CRC Article 29)
Part 3: People, Relationships, the Wider World
Week 32: Showing Empathy for others; empathy exercise (UN CRC Article 14)
Week 33: The power of friendship (UN CRC Article 15)
What are good friendships?-quiz
Week 34: The friendship fall- how to prevent catastrophic thinking? Read and discuss the possible solutions to avoid getting into a pit of anxiety. (UN CRC Article 15)
Week 35: My positive circle of influence (UN CRC Article 6)
Week 36: How good are they at spotting the upsides of a risky move? (UN CRC Article 6)
Week 37: Looking yourself through rose tinted glasses (UN CRC Article 13)
Week 38: Are they good at solving problems? (UN CRC Article 29)
Week 39: The impact of social media- you and your screen and how it affects you. (UN CRC Article 24)
Week 40: Students to complete their ladder of success where they outline their major achievements for this academic year. (UN CRC Article 13)
Week 41: Flourish Test (UN CRC Article 24)