Headteacher wellbeing at Boxgrove Primary School
Lead Happiness Consultant Dave Keeling loves working with teachers and so he was thrilled to be asked to lead a session with a group of headteachers at Boxgrove Primary School as part of their wellbeing day.
The session was linked to the science of happiness, helping the headteachers feel motivated for the new academic year. Dave’s session was created to give them ideas and techniques to increase resilience, as well as tangible tools to enable them to seek out the positives in a situation, helping them deal more effectively with change.
Part of the session focused on our FLIP-it thinking model, which stands for:
- Focus - decision-making and how wonky thoughts and behaviours can affect our actions. Plus, how to move from the circle of concern to the circle of control to help us cope more effectively with change and challenge.
- Language - how the scripts in our head can adversely impact our actions both positively and negatively. The power of words when linked to a sense of value and purpose.
- Imagination – magic questions and how they can help us to think more divergently
- Pattern Breaking – how to have future-focused conversations linked to action-based results.
The session whizzed by whilst being chock full of hints, tips and stories.
Dave was a little concerned about getting home, as the session took place during the petrol crisis. Luckily, one of the headteachers gave him a heads-up about a nearby petrol station he could fill up at, so the day had a very happy ending indeed. And who doesn’t love a happy ending?
