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THE LANCASHIRE ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL
GOVERNING BODIES

LASGB ANNUAL CONFERENCE
A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY
 
16th ANNUAL CONFERENCE of the LASGB 
 
will be held on
 
SATURDAY MAY 8th 2010
 
  A REPORT on the 15th ANNUAL CONFERENCE of the LASGB
 
SATURDAY MAY 9th 2009
 
COUNTY HALL  PRESTON
 
SEAL – THE SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL ASPECTS OF LEARNING
 
‘SEAL relates to the whole agenda of school improvement and the development of lifelong learning skills for students from their earliest years.’
We were delighted to welcome our special guests:
 
County Councillor Jennifer Mein Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, who opened the Conference.
 
The Director for Children and Young People, Helen Denton, who was attending her second LASGB Conference, gave an update on the main issues arising in the area of Children and Young people and explained the re-organisation of the Directorate. She introduced the newly appointed Director for Schools Bob Stott who spoke about his past role as teacher and Headteacher in secondary schools and his thoughts for the future.
 
Joy Bellis Governor Services Manager, and Stephanie Haywood Governor Services Buiness and Project Manager, are two officers with whom the Association works closely and we were pleased that they were able to join us once again.
 
For the first time the Conference concentrated on one theme only.
 
SEAL is being rolled out in every school in Lancashire - and nationally - and following the Conference all governors who attended were keen to find out how this excellent and effective programme is working in their own schools.
 
 
 
Our speakers were 
Julie Glynn, Senior Educational Psychologist for Lancashire who has a special interest in behaviour. She spoke about how patterns of behaviour grow and develop from the earliest weeks of life and explained the way in which the brain develops so that children are taught and learn specific behaviours through their experiences. Some of this learned behaviour is unacceptable and anti-social and Julie explained how processes can be used to help children unlearn and re-learn.
 
Helen Flanagan is Senior Manager with responsibility for the development of Restorative Approaches and works with the Lancashire Service for Learners Out of School. She covered with the issue of how schools can best deal with children with poor learning experiences of behaviour without the adults concerned falling into the familiar confrontational situation.
 
Lorimer Hayes is a Behaviour and Attendance Consultant with Lancashire and is currently seconded to the post of Co-ordinating Consultant supporting secondary schools in the National Challenge Programme.  She is responsible for advising and training staff in all aspects of these issues, including the introduction of SEAL in secondary schools in the county.
 
 Zofia Riddell is a Deputy Headteacher at Heysham High School and spoke about the practical work she undertakes in primary and secondary schools making use of the SEAL programme and philosophy.
 
 
 
At the end of the Conference the view was expressed by several delegates that all teachers in all schools should be able to hear these speakers, such was the quality of their presentations
The following extract comes from the DFSC National Strategies website and gives a summary of the SEAL programme.
 
Who will use it?
It will be used by schools who have identified the social and emotional aspects of learning as a key focus for their work with the children. These will be schools who know that the factors holding back learning in their setting include children’s difficulties in understanding and managing their feelings, working co-operatively in groups, motivating themselves and demonstrating resilience in the face of setbacks. These will not necessarily be schools where behaviour and attendance are poor. The materials will help develop children as effective learners and are therefore relevant to schools without significant behaviour problems as well as to those with behaviour or attendance as key issues
 
How was it developed?
The publication has been developed as a result of work over the last two years in over 500 schools taking part in the Primary National Strategy’s Behaviour and Attendance pilot.
 
What does it do?
This curriculum resource aims to develop the underpinning qualities and skills that help promote positive behaviour and effective learning. It focuses on five social and emotional aspects of learning: self-awareness, managing feelings, motivation, empathy and social skills.
The materials help children develop skills such as understanding another’s point of view, working in a group, sticking at things when they get difficult, resolving conflict and managing worries. They build on effective work already in place in the many primary schools who pay systematic attention to the social and emotional aspects of learning through whole-school ethos, initiatives such as circle time or buddy schemes, and the taught personal, social and health education (PSHE) and Citizenship curriculum.
The materials are organised into seven themes: New Beginnings, Getting on and falling out, Say no to bullying, Going for goals!, Good to be me, Relationships and Changes. Each theme is designed for a whole-school approach and includes a whole-school assembly and suggested follow-up activities in all areas of the curriculum. The colour-coded resources are organized at four levels: Foundation Stage, Years 1 and 2, Years 3 and 4, and Years 5 and 6. Pupil reference material and photocopiable teacher reference material accompany each theme.
 
There is a whole-school pack for the staffroom, a year-group pack with the same materials organised into a set of booklets for each year group from early Foundation Stage through to Year 6, and a resource file of photographs and posters.