When Emily Sinclair and Nicky Hocknull from Bankton Primary School in West Lothian expressed an interest in trying out our ‘School Cascader’ package in June 2016, it was a pleasure to pencil in a couple of meetings to prepare them for delivering their staff training in August.

Emily and Nicky turned up to our first meeting with great enthusiasm and confidence, and they picked up the basics of the Emotion Works curriculum and different levels without any problems. They showed their practitioner sides by making suggestions and asking questions about applications for different ages and stages in their school.

Another meeting at the end of the school holidays reassured me that they were absolutely ready to go. The staff training went very well, and Emily and Nicky’s confidence and enthusiasm rubbed off as they introduced the coggle lens. Teachers began planning and lessons started happening. I supplied them with a series of assembly powerpoints to introduce the cogs to the pupils one week at a time using the theme of the Inside Out Disney-Pixar movie. In 5 weeks the first five cogs were covered and the sixth week introduced the 5-part model.

My first follow up visit saw how teachers, staff and pupils had absolutely embraced this project and a meeting with Head Teacher Jaqueline Stewart indicated that Emotion Works was here to stay for the long term at Bankton School.

By November pupils were ready to share their learning at a parent showcase event which drew a fantastic crowd of proud parents and carers. Reassured they were working with a resource that was making a real difference to emotional learning and literacy in their pupils, school staff have continued to incorporate Emotion Works into their planning on an ongong basis linked to all areas of the curriculum.

For a step by step, in-depth look at the Bankton roll out and ongoing work,  click here

Developing Emotion Works in our school through cascader training has been a very positive experience.  It has given us the chance to tailor the approach and delivery to meet the needs of our pupils to ensure maximum impact.

The support we have received from Claire Murray has been excellent and has really helped us to develop a deep understanding of the approach and resources.  I have personally thoroughly enjoyed this training at a professional level as it has given me the time and space to reflect on my own practice as well as supporting staff to develop their skills for delivering Emotion Works in class.

Emily Sinclair, Principal Teacher