Could this be the PERFECT Conference Day?
Tue, Oct 12th 2010
I have a feeling I have reached for – and touched – maybe the best conference day ever! I certainly didn’t draw down this moon on my own – the day was perfect thanks to the Bristol City Behaviour Improvement Team (BIT), led by Esther Pickup-Keller. The SEAL consultants and organisers of this conference within the BIT team were Helen Wright, Nicky Hutchinson, Wendy Hawthorn and Lesley Oram. In fact Helen Wright, a Tinkerbelle Extraordinaire, is the one I must really thank. In 2009 Helen came on my annual Train the Trainers Course and was wonderfully positive and enthusiastic afterwards. I have explained to all of them that, as they were my golden ‘graduates’, I was very happy to help them launch a lift off conference day to get all the key people and schools excited and enthusiastic about how the Quality Circle Time approach can reinvigorate all the key systems. Thanks to Helen’s commitment and courage taking these ideas into schools, Helen’s Head of Service, Esther Pickup-Keller, was very visionary and supportive. The conference team gathered with her to put their shoulders to the wheel of rolling out a very prestigious exciting conference.
So there we were in a truly beautiful venue. The glorious Leigh Court, originally a Tudor mansion lies at the end of a long stunning drive in its own landscaped gardens. How many times do teachers get treated like this on courses – very rarely compared to those in industry. In the old days “team building” in industry meant people were taken regularly to posh hotels and occasionally up glorious mountains. Anyway, enough of retro envy – for a change all our good hearted tired teachers, learning mentors and teaching assistants, from early years, primary and secondary schools were being welcomed into a wonderful wood panelled hall (look at that ceiling), being offered fresh coffee and tiny pastries.
150 delegates arrived. I gave a keynote to all of them in the first session; stressing the importance of all of them needing to refuel their energy and to see themselves as a precious resource for today’s attention needing children. I urged them not to allow themselves to get too drained. Together we shone up my philosophy of practising ‘Golden Moments’ every day and then how we can teach them to children. We need to bring back more laughter to the staffroom and the classroom – and during the session we laughed, reminisced and looked forward together to a more balanced future where schools could be less frantic and more joyful places to be.
After coffee we offered four workshops. 75 delegates observed me running a ‘circletime’ session for secondary pupils (yes, they were real pupils, excited by their coach journey and morning ‘out’). As always the calm, well paced vibrant circletime enabled the young people to shine brightly. They humbled us by describing how hard they currently find certain aspects of their school life, how they found some pastoral systems did not work and how a few young people were already stuck in a bad reputation they couldn’t shrug off. They debated, supported and praised each other – unselfconsciously, as all their eyes were in a circle, either with me or their peers. With true generosity of spirit they acknowledged too the qualities of good teachers and how these teachers made them feel.
Whilst I ran this circle session three of my arts team consultants ran workshops for all the others. Dave took his group outside into the glorious autumn sunshine where they engaged boisterously, harmoniously and joyfully in Samba. The rolling rhythms of Brazil sparkled through tall English oaks. Su led her group to an old courtyard covered in Virginia Creeper to sing out their hearts and souls in ways that many had never done so before. Consequently many were hugely moved by this experience. Meanwhile Georgia, in the front drawing room, weaved her special brand of magic through bringing a range of big and tiny puppets – immediately the adults were held again in the world of imagination and possibility. Fired up, all the delegates from the four workshops, buzzed with excitement. Now their own creativity was refreshed they could see ways they could bring creativity, arts and fun, back into their schools.
Then………lunch! Clutching piled up high plates of the most delicious world food people wandered out onto the lawns to sit and chat, or just gaze in awe at the surrounding beauty of the rolling landscape. Golden Moments glistened everywhere.
After lunch we did it all again. This time though I had a primary class. All our usual classroom behaviours, in ‘embryo’, were obvious to all the observing teachers. Emotionally vulnerable and demanding, most of us have experienced a class like this before. The games, the scripts, the visualisations and sheer fun of circle time held them together – so that they too became calmer and more trusting. Soon they were giving each other the most profound and thoughtful advice. Yet again the surrounding delegates were deeply moved by the children’s honesty and courage. Like any lesson in a tough inner city school, it wasn’t without its hiccups. At one point, by ignoring my instructions a young lad had, excited by the billowing colours of the parachute, run smack into one of his peers causing him a nose bleed. He did not want to leave the circle, so nipping the bridge of his nose with one hand and stuffing a fistful of tissues up his nose in the other, he was elected my special assistant – whose duty it was to point out all the children who were following my instructions. The glory of being so important made him instantly forget all his troubles and with a muffled nasal voice he kept going. Nose bleed stopped and we all arrived at the finishing post together – just! We were all so energised by the children’s minds, we all wanted to rush out and be the best we could be. The children then left and all the delegates regathered in the main hall.
Under the gentle light touch of Su we were taught a beautiful song about the circle of life. The three part harmony wove us all into being an even closer group. We felt included and part of the whole. There was a moment of deep silence after the last words of the song where we all heard what we were meant to be………..and then…….laughter, chatter and a wonderful feeling that because we had released our own creative light and warmed our hearts by the light of the wisdom of young people, we all may truly have been part of the best conference ever!
For enquiries about Jenny Mosley's conferencing or training, please phone 01225 767157 or email circletime@jennymosley.co.uk
The following resource "Quality Circle Time in the Secondary School" might be of interest to anyone considering doing circle time in the secondary school:
This resource below "Personal Power" is great for anyone aiming to fulfil their potential for reaching their goals.
Coming soon for 2011 - a new resource - your own set of Golden Moments to keep your energy going - details coming soon on this website and on our Facebook page - or phone the office for pre-orders on 01225 767157.
For these and many other relevant resources, please visit our WEBSHOP.
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