Excellence and Enjoyment: social and emotional...

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Excellence andEnjoyment: social andemotional aspects oflearningGoing for goals! Theme overview

Guidance

Curriculum andStandards

Excellence and Enjoyment:social and emotional aspects oflearning

Going for goals!Theme overview

PrimaryNational Strategy

Headteachers, teachers

and practitioners in

primary schools,

middle schools, special

schools and Foundation

Stage settings

Status: Recommended

Date of issue: 05-2005

Ref: DfES 1345-2005 G

Disclaimer

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Theme overview

About the theme

This theme focuses primarily on the key aspect ofmotivation, with a subsidiary focus on self-awareness. It gives an important opportunity for all children’sabilities, qualities and strengths to be valued.

The theme provides opportunities for children to reflect on themselves as individuals,particularly their strengths as learners and how they learn most effectively.

Each set of activities focuses on the underlying prerequisites for successful goal-directedlearning and behaviour: for example, taking responsibility and building feelings ofconfidence and self-efficacy – the belief that what you do makes a difference. Goal-directed behaviour is only valuable if we are able to make wise and balanced choicesabout our goals, so this theme provides opportunities for children to consider this and topractise problem-solving strategies.

The theme consist of the following materials:

Assembly/Foundation Stage group time

Red set (Foundation)

Blue set (Years 1 and 2)

Yellow set (Years 3 and 4)

Green set (Years 5 and 6)

Purple set (staff development activities)

Gold set (activities for children to do at home with their parents/carers)

Silver set (small-group activities for children who need additional help with the social,emotional and behavioural skills relevant to this theme).

Suggested whole-school/setting focus for noticing and celebratingachievement

Use the school/setting’s usual means of celebration (for example: praise, notes to the childand parents/carers, certificates, peer nominations, etc.) to notice and celebrate children (oradults) who were observed:

Week 1: Taking responsibility – for their successes and when things go wrong

Week 2: Waiting for what they want; persistence (keeping going)

Week 3: Resilience – bouncing back or maintaining effort through a difficult experience orafter a mistake or failure

Week 4: Setting and achieving goals

Links and crossovers

Work associated with this theme also addresses the following:

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© Crown copyright 2005 Going for goals! Theme overview

DfES 1345-2005 Primary National Strategy

National Healthy School Standard (NHSS)

To meet the NHSS standard for emotional health and well-being (EHWB) schools need todemonstrate, among other things, that they ‘openly address issues of EHWB by enablingpupils to understand what they are feeling and by building their confidence to learn’.

Curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage:

Personal, social and emotional development, especially dispositions and attitudes, and self-care.

PSHE/Citizenship

Key Stage 1

Children will be taught:

1c) to recognise, name and deal with their feelings in a positive way;

1d) to think about themselves, learn from their experiences and recognise what they aregood at;

1e) to know how to set a simple goal;

4a) to recognise how their behaviour affects other people.

Key Stage 2

Children will be taught:

1b) to recognise their worth as individuals, by identifying positive things about themselvesand their achievements, seeing their mistakes, making amends and setting personalgoals;

1c)to face new challenges positively by collecting information, looking for help, makingresponsible choices and taking action;

2f) to resolve differences by looking at alternatives, making decisions and explainingchoices;

3e)to recognise the different risks in different situations and then decide how to behaveresponsibly;

4a)to recognise that their actions affect themselves and others, to care about otherpeople’s feelings and to try to see things from their points of view.

Work associated with this theme can also be addressed through published schemes whichyou may already be using (for example PATHS, Second Step, Family Links) and throughwhole-school systems that are in place, such as peer-mediation schemes.

What children will know, understand and be able to do following thesuccessful completion of Theme 4

All the themes offer a range of opportunities for children to put into practice the strategiesthey have learned for social problem-solving (including the crucial first step of calmingdown) and feeling identification. Previously taught skills are revisited and built on throughoutthe materials.

Described below are the additional knowledge, understanding and skills developedspecifically in Theme 4 Going for goals!

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Going for goals! Theme overview © Crown copyright 2005

Primary National Strategy DfES 1345-2005

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Knowing myself

Red

I know that I can domore things nowthan I could when Iwas younger.

I know that I will beable to do morethings when I amolder.

I know that we areall good at differentthings.

I can tell you what Ilike doing andlearning.

I can try new thingsin my learning.

Blue

I know we learn indifferent ways.

I can tell you someof my strengths as alearner.

Yellow

I can tell you aboutmyself as a learner.

I can use mystrengths as alearner.

I know that I amresponsible for myown learning andbehaviour.

I know what I needto learn effectively.

I know how myfeelings caninfluence mylearning.

Green

I know the skills andattributes to be aneffective learner.

I can try to developthese skills.

II know what someof the people in myclass like or admireabout me.

I can recognisewhen I am using anexcuse instead offinding a wayaround a problem.

I can recognise andcelebrate my ownachievements.

Setting a realisticgoal

I can tell you what agoal is.

I can set a goal formyself.

I can tell you what Iwant to achieve andhow I am going todo so.

I can say what Iwant to happenwhen there is aproblem (set a goal).

I can predict andunderstand theconsequences ofreaching my goal.

I can choose arealistic goal.

I can foreseeobstacles and planto overcome themwhen I am settinggoals.

I can set myself agoal or challenge.

Planning to reacha goal

I can say what I amgoing to do next.

I can break a goaldown into smallsteps.

I can choose arealistic goal.

I can set successcriteria so that I will know whether Ihave reached my goal.

I can break down agoal into a number ofsteps and wait forthe result.

I know how otherscan help me toachieve my goalsand how I can help others.

I can make apersonal or learninglong-term plan andbreak it down intosmaller, achievablegoals.

I know that it is upto me to get thingsdone by taking thefirst step.

Persistence

Red

I can focus myattention and start atask.

I can concentrate onwhat I am doing.

I can work to reachmy goal.

I know that workinghard is important toreaching my goal.

Blue

I can resistdistractions.

I can work towardsa reward or for thesatisfaction offinishing a task.

I can recognisewhen I ambecoming bored orfrustrated.

I know some waysto overcomeboredom andfrustration.

Yellow

I can recognisewhen I find learningdifficult andpersevere when Ineed to.

I can managefrustration by usinga number ofstrategies.

I can tell you how Ikeep going evenwhen the task isdifficult or boring.

I know when to keeptrying and when totry something else.

I can identify somebarriers to mylearning.

I can think of waysto overcome mybarriers to learning.

I can understandthat some thoughtshelp me reach mygoal and some are abarrier.

Green

I know that if at firstI don’t succeed it isworth trying again.

I can try again evenwhen I have beenunsuccessful.

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Making choices I can think of lots ofdifferent ideas orsolutions toproblems.

I can predict andunderstand theconsequences of mysolutions or ideas.

I can choosebetween my ideasand give reasons.

I can identifyadvantages anddisadvantages of thesolutions or goals Iset myself.

I can predict theconsequences of myactions/solutions orgoals for myself,other individuals orgroups.

I can make a choiceabout what to dobased upon mypredictions of thelikely consequences.

I can make a long-term plan and breakit down into smaller,achievable goals inmy personal life orin my behaviour.

I can consider theconsequences ofpossible solutions orreaching my goal formyself, others andfor communities orgroups.

Evaluation andreview

Red

I can tell you what Ihave done and thethings that workedwell.

Blue

I can learn from mysuccesses.

I can tell you what Ihave learned.

I can tell you what Imight do differentlyto learn moreeffectively.

I can tell you whythings have beensuccessful.

I can tell you whathas gone wrongwith a plan and why.

I can talk about thebits that went welland the bits that Ineed to change if Iused my plan again.

Yellow

I can tell you how Iam going to applywhat I have learned.

I am able to takeresponsibility for myactions and learningwhen the outcomesare positive ornegative.

I can recognisewhen I have reachedmy goal or beensuccessful with mylearning.

I can tell you whathas gone wrongwith a plan and why.

I can talk about thebits that went welland the bits that Ineed to change if Iused my plan again.

Green

I can apply what Ihave learned.

I can tell you what Ineed to learn next.

I can be a criticalfriend to others andmyself.

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The assembly

You will need:

Music: The suggested music for children to come in to and leave by is any piececomposed by Beethoven. Point out to the children that Beethoven wrotewonderful music even when his deafness almost made him despair. He keptgoing because he believed in himself and because his friends helped him to keephis belief when times were very dark and bleak. (The Ode to Joy from the ninthsymphony is a particularly powerful testimony to hope over adversity.)

Flipchart and pens

Sufficient copies of the story scripts for children with speaking parts

Pictures to support children’s understanding of the assembly story. You will findthese on the CD-ROM that accompanies these materials. They can be copiedonto acetates or used with a data projector.

Introduction

Note: For children in the Foundation Stage, it may be more appropriate tointroduce the work on this theme in a class/group gathering.

You can either present this assembly as a story with just one child acting the partof Samindra, or you can involve several children in these speaking parts:

Samindra

Samindra’s mother

Note: Spoken words are printed in bold type in the story.

Tell children that this assembly is about ‘Going for goals’ – knowing what youwant to achieve and setting out to achieve it. It can be hard work achieving yourgoal. You might get bored or scared, or you might feel like giving up because itseems too difficult. You might not be able to do it on your own and will need yourfriends to help you.

Ask children what they could say to encourage someone who was trying toachieve something that was very difficult for them. Accept all children’s ideas butwrite on the flipchart:

Keep going

You can do it

Outline

Tell children that the story they are going to hear is about a boy called Samindrawho has something very difficult to achieve. Tell them that they will all have tohelp him by whispering the words on the flipchart over and over again when youpoint to them.

Ask the children to imagine that there is a huge mountain at the front of the hall orroom where they are gathered. Use the first picture from the assembly resources(see the CD-ROM that accompanies these materials).

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The story

A long, long time ago in a village at the bottom of a mountain, Samindra lived with his

mother and baby sister. When Samindra was little, his father had been taken away to

fight in someone else's war across the mountains.

Samindra’s mother spoke of his father often. ‘He is the bravest, strongest and most

hard-working man in the village,’ she said.

‘I’ll never be like my father,’ Samindra told himself. Samindra did not feel brave or

strong, and he certainly did not work hard.

‘You’ll never be like your father,’ his mother said to him when he ran off and made

mischief instead helping on the farm.

Samindra’s mother worked hard to feed the family. The family’s prize possession was an

old tractor. It was always breaking down but she always got it going again. Without it

they would have to leave the farm.

One day Samindra’s

mother got on the

tractor so she could

start harvesting the

corn. There was a

terrible crunch. The

tractor shuddered

and Samindra's

mother was thrown

from the seat and on

to the hard earth.

Her leg was twisted

beneath her.

Samindra could see

she was in pain but still

she got to her feet and

looked at the tractor. ‘It’s no

good. I can’t mend it. The tractor needs a new carburettor. I’ll have to go to

the village over the mountain to buy a new one,’ she said.

She started to walk down the path but after two steps her leg gave way and she fell to

the ground in tears. ‘It’s no good!’ she said, ‘I can’t get to the end of the path.

I’ll never be able to go over the mountain. We’ll miss the harvest and the

crops will be ruined.’

Samindra looked up at the mountain towering above him. His mouth was dry and his

heart was pounding. His legs went suddenly weak and he felt as though he had a big

hard knot inside him. ‘I will go,’ Samindra said. He knew he had to help. It was the

family’s only chance. Without the new carburettor there would be no food for the winter

and they would have to leave the farm or they would die. 7



The next day Samindra kissed his

mother goodbye and set off. His

mother waved and smiled weakly.

Samindra’s legs still trembled and he

felt a big, hard knot inside him. That

day he walked and walked and

walked, further than he had ever

walked in his life. The land became

steeper and the sun grew hotter. He

stopped for a rest under the shade of a

stunted tree and ate and drank a little.

Then he looked up at the mountain above

and saw there was still such a long way to

go. He sighed and dropped his head in his

hands. ‘I can’t go on,’ he said to himself,

‘I can’t do it. I just can’t do it.’

Then, the strangest thing happened; from

somewhere he heard a faint voice, which

seemed to be speaking to him over and over

again saying (point to the words and all the children chant

quietly): ‘Keep going, keep going, keep going … .’

Samindra heard the voice but he did not know where it was coming from. Was it from

outside him or inside? (point to the words): ‘Keep going, keep going, keep going….’

Somehow the voice gave him courage in his heart and strength in his legs. He

remembered that more than anything in the world they needed the carburettor. ‘I will

keep going,’ he said, and strode on up the mountain.

When it began to grow

dark, Samindra knew

that he would have to

rest for the night. He

didn’t like the dark, and

there, on the mountain,

the dark was darker

than he had ever known

it. He built a fire, but in

spite of the bright

flames, he began to shiver.

He didn’t know if he was

shivering because he was cold

or because he was scared. All he

knew was that he wanted to go

home. He wanted to leave the

horrible mountain and run back home8



and be safe and warm again. ‘I can’t go on,’ he said to himself, ‘I can’t do it. I just

can’t do it.’

Then, from somewhere, he heard a faint voice, which seemed to be speaking to him over

and over again saying (point to the words and all the children chant quietly): ‘You can do

it, you can do it, you can do it … .’


outside him or inside? (point to the words): ‘You can do it, you can do it, you can do

it … .’

With the words in his ears, somehow Samindra felt less afraid. ‘I can do it,’ he

murmured to himself as he fell fast asleep.

Samindra woke with the sun and was amazed to see that he was nearly at the top of the

mountain. He struggled and climbed and climbed and struggled until at last he was

standing on the very top. Below him, in the distance, he could just see the village he was

heading to, but it was so very far away that his heart failed him. For a moment he

forgot about his family and the tractor and everything. ‘It’s no good,’ he said, ‘I just

can’t do it.’

Then he heard from somewhere a faint voice which seemed to be speaking to him over

and over again saying (point to the words and all the children chant quietly): ‘You can do

it, you can do it, you can do it … .’


outside him or inside? (point to the words): ‘You can do it, you can do it, you can do

it … .’

Samindra took a deep breath. ‘I can do it,’ he said out loud, ‘and

I will!’ And he set off for the village below.

When, at last, Samindra reached the village on

the other side of the mountain, he went to the

shop and bought the part for the old tractor.

It was a long way back, just as long as the

way there, but whenever he was tired or

scared or fed up, Samindra said to himself

‘I will keep going, I can do it, I will

do it.’

The nearer he got to his village and his

home, the quicker he seemed to travel.

When he was nearly there the villagers

came out to greet him. He ran straight to

his home to find his mother. ‘I climbed

the mountain,’ cried Samindra, ‘I got the

carburettor.’

9



His mother smiled at him. ‘I knew you would,’ she said ‘After all, Samindra, you

are just like your father.’

You can now explore with the children their thoughts and feelings about the story by askingeach age group one of the questions. Tell the children there are no right or wrong answers.

Foundation Stage: What do you think Samindra wanted most of all?How do you think you helped Samindra?

Years 1 and 2: Why do you think Samindra wanted to give up?What helped Samindra to get what he wanted?

Years 3 and 4: Do you think Samindra was brave? Why? Why not?What helped Samindra to keep going when he was tired or scared?

Years 5 and 6: Think of one thing that would have made Samindra’s task less difficultfor him.What had happened to Samindra to make his mother say ‘You are justlike your father’?

Conclusion

Ask the children to find a very still, quiet place inside themselves. Remind them thatSamindra set out to achieve something very difficult all by himself. The children helped himto believe in himself and to believe that he could do it. Tell the children it is now theirchance to think of something that they really want to do, or do better. Their goal could be,for instance, to be kinder to a friend, or to try harder at their writing. Sometimes they mightfeel as though there is a mountain in the way that they have to climb before they canachieve their goals. Ask them to think really hard about what they want and what they willneed to do to get it. They may like to think about how their friends or teacher/practitionercan help them.

Play the music. The children leave in silence keeping their goals in their heads until they getback to the classroom. There they can share or record them and talk about how they canhelp each other to achieve them. This will be the focus of the follow-up assembly at theend of the theme.10



Follow-up assembly to be held at the end of the theme

Begin by reminding the children of the story of Samindra and the mountain, andhow they helped Samindra to keep going and believe in himself.

Now children from each year group present some of the work they have done inclass. The class teacher and children should together choose the work that theclass will feed back, but here are some examples.

Foundation Stage: The teacher/practitioner (with help from the children) tells thewhole school about the group goals that they set themselves (for example in theforest walk activity). They might project digital photographs to illustrate what thegroup wanted to do and what they achieved. They could talk about the difficultiesthat they had and say who or what helped them. Conclude by congratulating allthe children on what they have achieved and summarise some of the things thathelped them keep going.

Years 1 and 2: The children present their work from the Ready to learnchallenge. They describe different ways of learning. Year 2 children talk about thethings we can do to overcome frustration and help ourselves keep going whenthings are difficult. This could be presented as a drama.

Years 3 and 4: The children present several of the sets of sentences used inclass to demonstrate where children are, and are not, taking responsibility forthemselves. They read each of the sentences out loud and the children in theschool vote on whether they think the sentence demonstrates that the child istaking responsibility. The teacher or children conclude by saying that no one canachieve their goals unless they take responsibility for their own actions.

Years 5 and 6: The feedback for years 5 and 6 reflects what the FoundationStage children presented but at a much more complex level. Children talk about askill that they or someone else has worked hard to acquire. They share with thewhole school the process they went through. For example, was there a timewhen it seemed impossible? Did they ever feel like giving up? What helped, andwhat was unhelpful? What were the worst bits? Year 6 children can encouragethe younger children to question them. Conclude by stressing the positive thingsthat enable people to reach their goals.

End the assembly by asking everyone to think in silence about what they, orsomeone else, has achieved through the Going for goals! work. Encourage themto think positively about their own or others’ achievements and to feel proud ofthemselves or their friends. Ask the children to keep these positive thoughts intheir heads as you play the music and they leave in silence.

Variations on the assembly for subsequent years

Note: The follow-up assembly remains the same each year.

The variations on the Going for goals! theme involve older children in planningand holding the assembly. Year 6 children, or a small group of them, will need toundertake some research prior to the assembly and will need time to planproperly. Planning and holding the assembly will present an excellent cross-curricular project, which could cover literacy (including speaking and listening),history, geography, citizenship, RE, art and design, and music.

11



Each year, the Year 6 assembly group choose someone to research who has overcomedifficulties in order to achieve their goal(s). This could be someone in the local communityor in the school, a child’s personal hero or someone from the list below. Children coulduse, as a starting point, the work covered in Years 3 and 4 (Yellow set) about people whoachieved goals against significant odds.

Each year when the Year 6 children lead the assembly they should:

• outline briefly the story of Samindra and the mountain, pointing out that the mountainSamindra had to cross to get the carburettor for his family was a real one;

• point out that there are often mountains in the way of achieving goals – they are notusually real mountains, but they are things to be overcome such as tiredness, boredomor doubt;

• introduce the assembly by saying that it will be about someone who has achieved veryimportant goal(s) in his or her life despite the enormous mountains he or she had toclimb;

• present the story of the chosen person’s life in as visual a way as possible, for examplethrough drama, pictures, hot-seating or rapping. It is for the children to decide.

Suggestions for research

People who have achieved their goals in the face of difficulties include:

Sojourner Truth (slave and poet)

Ludwig van Beethoven (composer)

Rosa Parks (freedom fighter)

Primo Levi (holocaust survivor and writer)

Kelly Holmes (athlete)

Sadako Sakasi (a Japanese girl who was a victim of Hiroshima)

Each assembly finishes with all the children being asked to think quiet thoughts about whatthey have learned through the assembly, about the goals they have recently set forthemselves, and/or how they have helped other people to achieve their goals. The musicplays and they leave in silence, taking their thoughts with them.

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5-20

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Copies of this document may be available from:

DfES PublicationsTel: 0845 60 222 60Fax: 0845 60 333 60Textphone: 0845 60 555 60e-mail: [email protected]

Ref: DfES 1345-2005 G

© Crown copyright 2005

Produced by theDepartment for Education and Skills

www.dfes.gov.uk

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