The Positive Programme is a pastoral initiative involving the whole school community, engaging students and staff alike in important conversations about emotional literacy.
The Positive Group specialises in using the latest psychological research to create its own ‘behavioural toolkits’ and app, and already has existing partnerships with the BBC, NHS, both Oxford and Cambridge Universities and Google. The core principle of Positive is that emotional literacy should be added ‘to the water’ of mainstream education to prevent mental-health issues later in life.
The best thing about Positive is that it gives us a way to talk about our emotions which de-stigmatizes the idea of having difficult or down moments in our lives, encouraging us to talk openly using the Positive language. It even feels more comfortable talking to their teachers about any problems, because you don’t have to go right into everything, you can just say where you are and go from there.
Isa – Year 10
Working with Positive, we are introducing emotional literacy into all aspects of school life from Reception to Year 13. Younger students encounter Positive via accessible, paper-based strategies such as the ‘worry monster’ and plotting smiley faces at various stages of the day, while older students have access to Positive’s proprietary app, which includes an ‘emotional barometer’ that enables users to track their positive and negative emotions, bitesize wellbeing videos covering topics such as exam stress and mindfulness, and its own private ‘anti-Instagram’ pinboard of positive moments.
Personally, my favourite part of the App has been the Pinboard, as it provides me with a totally private place where I can post photos of where and when I’m happy which no one else need ever see. It’s great for letting you be positive about stuff without having to worry about filters and other people’s judgement!
Cicely – Year 10
