Boosting our children’s self esteem

In Primary, we have developed a number of different ways to make sure that our pupils feel valued and successful and that there are regular opportunities to celebrate and encourage learners.

In every classroom you will find a wall of orange cards, these cards are individual Records of Achievement. Every time a child shows one of their Personal Learning Goals, the class teacher will award one of our special PLG superhero stickers which is then added to their induvial card. These are awarded for many different reasons but the purpose is always the same – to recognise and celebrate a learner who has shown sustained effort towards their learning with the aim to help boost children’s self esteem and make them feel good about all the parts of school, not just academic. When children complete these record of achievements, we have a special assembly to recognise this effort and children are awarded their PLG Superhero badge as a symbol of their success.

One of the other ways that we try to ensure children feel good about themselves is through our online communication platform, Seesaw. Seesaw started off as a great way to communicate with parents but during the pandemic is become a valuable tool to share and celebrate learning when parents or children could not be physically in the room. While we are all thankfully back in the classroom, we still use Seesaw to share pictures and videos of children in the classroom explaining the work that they have done and what they are proud of. Children enjoying sharing what they have learnt about and it ensures that parents can see all the great things that children have been learning about. This means that when children get home, they can talk about and feel pleased about their efforts and learning.

Fine dining is another way to celebrate and boost children’s self-esteem. Each week, a group of pupils from across years 2-6 are selected to have lunch with myself, Ms. Hill and Mrs. Prabhu. Pupils who have shown elements of our school vision are chosen by their year group teachers to enjoy lunch at the top table in the canteen. This special occasion allows us to get to know the children whilst making them feel special. Since we started fine dining earlier in the year, we have had over 100 different children chosen for many different reasons but all as a way to make them feel good about themselves. This week we have our first mixed year group fine dining where children from different year groups can come together and share lunch with our leadership team and celebrate their successes.

Using these different ways to boost children's self-esteem has given us the opportunity to regularly praise and celebrate our young learners. In a world of uncertainties and challenges, we recognise the importance of frequent positive praise and that all children deserve to feel good about themselves.

THOMAS HOLMES

DEPUTY HEAD PRIMARY