The Emotion Works Recovery Programme – your questions answered – updated 6th July

Our Recovery Programme website is now live. You can access it at www.emotionworks-recovery.org.uk

WHAT IS THE EMOTION WORKS RECOVERY PROGRAMME?

Emotion Works is a programme & organisation that puts learning at the heart of emotional wellbeing. Our expertise is in education and our training and resources are for teachers and educators to help children and young people develop emotional understanding and competencies through a range of learning experiences and curriculum activities.

The premise is that such learning and interactive experiences contribute to positive emotional development and resilience based on current thinking and research in the field of child development. The Emotion Works programme is therefore focused around emotional learning and literacy outcomes that also have a positive impact on mental health & wellbeing.

The Emotion Works Recovery Programme is a self-contained 4-month programme that provides a focused application of Emotion Works training and teaching to help settle children back into school following the Covid19 lockdown. It will share trauma-informed principles and practices to help schools establish an ethos of safety and positive regard for pupils. The 3 R’s of the Recovery Programme training are ‘Relationships’, ‘Regulation, and ‘Relevance’. The teaching programme will provide opportunities for pupils to talk and learn about emotions in ways that will help process experiences, support re-engagement with learning and promote well-being.

The teaching side of the Recovery Programme will begin with a 4-week settling in period from the 12th August when Scottish Schools re-open. This will then be followed by a week-by-week teaching programme with lesson ideas and learning activities that can be geared towards children’s interests and different learning contexts. The resources provided will cover Early, First and Second levels of Curriculum for Excellence.

The training and teaching programme and resources will be fully online and there will be an opportunity to join hundreds of other schools taking part via a virtual community of practice.

WHAT CAN I SEE OF THE RECOVERY PROGRAMME IF I’M NOT AN EMOTION WORKS MEMBER?

There are 3 pages of the recovery programme that are open to everyone at www.emotionworks-recovery.org.uk

The home page, training programme overview page and weekly teaching programme overview page are all open pages. On these pages you will be able to see how the the different sides of the programme are organised, and read a summary about each of the training modules and weekly teaching content.

Clicking through to access any of the membership content will require that you have purchased a subscription and will require you to login.

I AM ALREADY AN EMOTION WORKS SUBSCRIBER – HOW CAN I ACCESS THE RECOVERY PROGRAMME?

Anyone with an existing Emotion Works membership can access the Recovery Programme website at no extra charge. Simply enter your usual login details to access the Recovery site members area. This includes individual members as well as schools.

New customers can find more information about package purchases later in this post or redirect to our online shop here. Packages are available for individuals, schools & Local Authorities.

WILL ALL TRAINING, PLANNING & TEACHING MATERIALS BE PROVIDED ONLINE?

Yes, for speed of set-up, ease of access and to keep costs down we have decided to make the entire programme available on an online platform.

The training and teaching content will consist of embedded videos, slideshows, written guidance, web-links and a range of digital resources such as planners, posters and worksheets that can be printed off in school.

Schools that already have Emotion Works hard copy resources will obviously be able to utilise these to enhance learning experiences with pupils, or new schools may decide to purchase a selection from our online shop. However, our ready-made hard copy resources will not be necessary to engage in the training and teaching aspects of the Recovery Programme.

WHEN WILL WE BE ABLE TO ACCESS THE RECOVERY PROGRAMME CONTENT?

TRAINING SECTION: The first 2 modules – (Wider Framework and Orange Cog) are currently live as of this 6th July update. We are hoping to complete the Component Model Curriculum and Green, Red, Yellow & Blue Cog training modules by the end of July. The Grey Cog and Purple Cog modules will be added once the teaching programme for the first 5 cogs is underway. For information, a lot of the Training content is brand new and is the result of a collaboration between Claire, a film-making team, our illustrator and web designer. These things do take time, but we’re definitely getting there. Thank you for your patience while we work on getting it right for you 🙏

LESSONS & ACTIVITY SECTION: A summary of what will be covered in each of the ‘weeks’ in the teaching programme can be opened by clicking on the arrows in the coloured strips on the overview page. The teaching content for the settling in period will be added during the week of 6th July. This content will be all you need to deliver the programme over the first 4 weeks of the roll-out so don’t worry that the full content for teaching each of the cogs won’t be added until further into the summer. One reason for this is that we’re waiting to see whether pupils will be back full time for certain, or whether we need to incorporate an element of blended learning into the programme. The other reason is purely down to our capacity as a team of 2 people (Claire and Luqmaan our web developer) to pull together, create and get all of the teaching content shared online.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO COMPLETE THE RECOVERY PROGRAMME TRAINING?

To work through all of the training modules & tasks thoroughly will take between 6-8 hours.

As the training content consists of videos, slideshows and written guidance, with key documents relating to each module provided as pdfs to download and print out it can be accessed at a time and place to suit you. The modules can be worked through individually or in groups depending on your school and staff availability and commitments.

To browse an overview of the Training Programme and module content on the Recovery website please click here

Please note – there will be time in August (during the 4 week settling in period) to work through the training so there is no expectation for teachers to spend time during the summer break working on Emotion Works training and preparation. Indeed, part of the success of the Recovery Programme will depend on teachers and staff feeling rested and well supported for the return to school. For those teachers who do prefer to plan ahead and familiarise themselves with the programme for their own peace of mind, the site will be open and being added to throughout the holidays and our Facebook practitioner page is open all summer for networking and community support. Please note – the Facebook practitioner page is for members only, so please answer the questions for access otherwise we’ll have to decline your request to join.

CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THE 4 WEEK SETTLING IN PERIOD & THE 10 WEEK TEACHING PROGRAMME?

From the 12th August we will be encouraging a 4 week setting in period focusing on getting it right with the 3 R’s of ‘Relationships’, ‘Regulation’ and ‘Relevance’. Practice ideas and resources will be provided relationship building & getting to know you activities, along with some possibilities for baseline assessment.

The 4 week allocation for the settling in period is flexible, as is the 10 week allocation for the roll-out of the Emotion Works teaching programme. You may want to take things more slowly, or schools who have used Emotion Works before may move through the 10 weeks at a faster pace.

Whatever your timescale, the material will be there and we’ll be holding your hand and guiding your school through a step-by-step programme of lessons & differentiated activity ideas linked to different curriculum areas within the following themes:

> An overview of the 5-cog model

> Introducing or consolidating learning about the Orange | Red | Yellow | Green | Blue Cogs

> Revisiting the 5-cog model and engaging in a variety of practical applications (continues for Early level learners for the rest of the programme)

> First level learners progress onto learning or consolidating knowledge about the Grey Cog & 6-part model

> Second level learners then progress onto learning or consolidating knowledge about the Purple Cog & 7-part model

We’ll be providing a variety of learning stimuli for each theme, with lots of opportunities for staff, pupils and parents to reflect on and talk about different aspects of life before, during and after lockdown, alongside other themes and topics as required. There will be lessons, activity ideas and printable worksheets provided each week for early, first & second level learners, which will be useful for sending home for home-based learning if necessary.

To browse an overview of the Weekly Teaching Programme on the Recovery website please click here

WILL THERE BE A WAY TO STAY IN TOUCH TO ASK FOR HELP & GUIDANCE OVER THE COURSE OF THE PROGRAMME?

Absolutely. We’re really looking forward to facilitating a supportive online community with many hundreds of schools taking part in the Emotion Works Recovery Programme. It will be quite a unique experience for us all to participate in and we’re excited to discover what will come from us all working together. We’ll certainly provide help and guidance along the way, but will also be encouraging you to share your challenges and successes with others in the community too. There are already lots of experienced Emotion Works practitioners and champions within our community, and no doubt many more will emerge during this time too. The live online community will also help us respond to your requests and suggestions, and adapt, enhance and personalise the programme as we go.

IS THE EMOTION WORKS RECOVERY PROGRAMME JUST FOR SCHOOLS IN SCOTLAND?

No, not just Scotland, but since that’s where we’re based and it’s where most of our existing schools are based we are making the training available over the course of the summer and preparing the teaching programme to run from the return to school date in Scotland on 12th August.

We anticipate keeping the website live for up to 4 months (possibly up until December) but it’s very flexible so it doesn’t matter when you start. If your start date for the teaching programme is much later than we’re running it in Scotland then we’ll be happy to extend access to coincide with your own schedule.

HOW MUCH DOES THE EMOTION WORKS RECOVERY PROGRAMME COST?

The Recovery Programme is free for existing Emotion Works customers, including those in the process of purchasing one of our standard full school packages.

For new schools the cost is £250 per school, plus VAT. PURCHASE YOURS HERE

If you’d like to join in with the Recovery Programme at this stage and then decide that you want to access Emotion Works full resources and on a longer term basis, all new schools buying a Recovery Package before the 12th August will qualify for £250 off a full school package later in the year