I’m sure I have mentioned before that I do enjoy playing the guitar.  I have an acoustic guitar and recently treated myself to a new electric guitar as well.  I have to say that I am not any good and might be best described as a campfire strummer but I do enjoy it.  My older boy plays drums so now I can accompany him on my electric guitar and imagine that I am selling out the Clyde Auditorium!   Every now and then Crosby Stills and Nash pops up on my random playlist and there is something about their harmonies that really appeals to me.  The fact that this song has such a simple chord progression that even I can play it is an added bonus.

Last week I attended a conference called “Leading with Care” in Glasgow and much of what I heard was genuinely inspirational and I wanted to share a little of what was said.

The highlight of the two days for me was listening to Richard McCann.  Understanding the  impact of ACEs (or adverse childhood experiences) is becoming a much bigger part of our work and recognising the long term implications of them in terms of the health and wellbeing of adults is growing in prominence.   This video gives an outline.

When you hear the story of Richard McCann then in light of this knowledge you can understand the initial trajectory of his life.  If you have the heart for it you can follow the link to read a part of his story, but be warned it is not an easy read.  What is really worth us remembering though is his conclusion.

“To every teacher on the planet I say this: Never underestimate the potential that lies within each and every young person you come into contact with, and, possibly more importantly, never underestimate the difference that your words of encouragement may have in their lives.”

I see all of the staff in Easter Carmuirs show this encouragement every day; constantly looking for the thing that makes each child special and unique and showing that we care.  Identifiying and nurturing talents as best we can.  Many of our children lack a little bit of confidence and our staff constantly strive to challenge them and make them step out of their comfort zone a little every day and learn to challenge themselves.  Our children need to know that it is better to aim high and miss than to aim low and hit.

You may have noticed a message coming out through Twitter and ClassDojo over the last week that a number of guitars are working their way into school.  There are a few reasons for this.  There is research that shows that involvement in music has a positive impact on attainment , the creation of a band helps foster an identity and pride and the opportunities for adults and families to join us helps develop our community.  We have traditionally offered sporting activities in school so we thought we would try to diversify a little.  There is also the sense that if you are supported to try one new thing you are much more likely to try other new things…  We’ll maybe make it to the auditorium yet 🙂