Purple Penguin Wellbeing

Did you know a parents/carers engagement plays a vital part in determining their child’s learning and development?

Schools need to welcome parents as participants in the child's learning and support them by giving them the information, support and opportunities to do so.

Some ways schools can do this are as follows:

- Sharing outline curriculum plans with parents with suggestions of activities to work on together as part of homework
- Using homework activities to communicate key areas of learning that parents can support
- Giving parents access to curriculum materials for current teaching and learning on the school website or the virtual learning environment
- Involving parents in their child’s lessons in school
- Helping specific parents to work with their child on identified curricular targets

If your school is finding this hard Purple Penguin can help schools connect with disengaged or harder to reach parents and carers.

The best tip for school success is to make sure that parents and teachers are working together as allies. 🤝

Looked after children are some of the most vulnerable children and young people in our society.

- Despite initiatives such as virtual schools these children continue to do significantly less well at school. For example, looked after children are much more likely to be permanently excluded from school and they do a lot worse in their GCSEs than their non-looked after peers.

- The impact of early disadvantage continues on into adulthood - for example, care leavers are over-represented in the prison population and amongst the homeless.

- A key protective factor for looked after children is good engagement in school life. All schools have a designated teacher for looked after children and they are key in forging good relationships with the child and carers, and in helping educate staff about the needs of the child and how they can be best met.

- Access to counseling is also important for these children. It can provide an opportunity to experience a healthy relationship, and encourage a child to engage in positive relationships with their teachers and peers. This can help the child to develop a sense of belonging and stability in their lives.

Getting it right for Looked After children

Have you heard of emotional overwhelm? It is a state of being overcome by intense emotion that is difficult to manage. It can affect your ability to think and act rationally and could prevent you from performing your regular daily tasks.
It may be caused by stress, traumatic life experiences, relationship issues, and much more.

Children can also be overwhelmed by feelings such as sadness and anger and may need help overcoming these feelings.

Some ways to combat emotional overwhelm are:

• Understanding the roots of your emotions
• Exploring ways to self-soothe, such as meditation
• Addressing recurring stressors that contribute to overwhelm, such as conflict
• Learning coping skills to deal with stressors
• Treating any mental health issues you may have that are contributing to your feeling of overwhelm

Did you know Purple Penguin runs Tree of Life Workshops where we use a simple metaphor of a tree to represent elements of a person's life, re-telling the unique story of each student and encouraging a new narrative?

It is a powerful way to empower young people and remind them of their strengths.

If you're interested in this, or any of our services, please drop us a message!

For Students Tree of Life workshopsUsing a framework designed by Ncazelo Ncube (2006), called the ‘Tree of Life’, we aim to empower young people and remind them of their strengths. Sessions last between 60 – 90…

It’s not possible to protect our children from the ups and downs of life. Raising resilient children, however, is possible and can provide them with the tools they need to respond to the challenges of adolescence and young adulthood and to navigate successfully in adulthood.

Building Resilience in Children ​In today’s environment, children and teens need to develop strengths, acquire skills to cope, recover from hardships, and be prepared for future challenges. Nationally recognized pediatrician Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg offers parents seven “C”s to help them build resiliency in their children as t...

It’s never too early to start thinking about your childs mental health

"In my professional opinion, a child’s mental health should always be a priority for a parent from the time of birth. In fact, it’s been said, ‘There is no health without mental health.’ After all, how can you enjoy the benefits of being physically healthy if you can’t realize your own potential, cope with the normal stresses of life, and make a contribution to your community?"

Let’s Talk Children’s Mental Health: Is it “too early” or “too late” to start thinking about it? Dr. Heidi Kiefer, Children’s Psychologist, answers some of our FAQs about Children’s Mental Health.

As we’re halfway through National Adoption Week (14th to 20th October) I thought I’d share this cute video of a little girl talking to her mother about the first time they met when she was adopted. 😍

'My heart fell in love!' Heartwarming moment adopted girl and her mother discuss meeting - video dailymotion This is the beautiful moment when precious little girl Gabby started talking to her mother about the first time they met when she was adopted. Gabby started to explain to her mom what happened to her heart the first time she met them. “Well when we were born we became two little babies and then Li...

There are currently more than twice as many children in England waiting to be adopted as there are families willing to adopt.

More families needed for children awaiting adoption More than twice as many children in England are waiting to be adopted as there are families willing to adopt.