Together Everyone Achieves More – @TEAM UP.

A team of professionals have been tasked with supporting children to build their self-confidence and emotional intelligence, helping them to be successful both in and out of the classroom at the Wise Owl Trust.

The team of adults have been carefully chosen to create Team Up with a teacher to lead, two personnel from Commando Joes and teaching assistants from across the Trust. Team Up have a dedication to supporting children that may be struggling within the Trust’s academies, with the primary purpose of building the necessary character traits, such as resilience and teamwork to prevent exclusions.

As the academies grow, so do the number and variety of children’s needs. The idea was the brainchild of the Executive Principal, Sophie Murfin, who has committed herself and the Wise Owl Trust to developing the whole child, as the philosophy to learning across the Trust, however sometimes children need further support. At Team Up, which is based at Briscoe Lane Academy, the children complete a variety of carefully tailored projects to build on character traits and improve their emotional intelligence.

Since the team were formed in September 2016, they have worked within the academies under the direction of the senior leadership teams to develop relationships with the children and support them with their learning. In-house projects have taken place such as ‘Spy Days’ where the children had to investigate a range of crime scenes, putting their numeracy and literacy skills to the test to establish who the mole amongst the camp was!

Team Up have also run a series of holiday camps and after school clubs which have been extremely popular and successful across the Trust.

“I literally can’t wait for the holidays, just so I can go to Team Up and take part in all the fun things they have planned!” enthused Reilly, a Year 5 child.

A specially refurbished centre was opened in January 2017 for Team Up and has been kitted out with the latest technology and resources! Children experience: adventures using Virtual Reality headsets, opportunities to research using iPads, well-designed sensory areas which can be used for calming down and much more.

At a recent open morning for families, a child told his family, “Thank you for supporting me and not giving up on me.” This was a moment that embodies the hard work of the staff at Team Up with many of the adults swallowing lumps in their throats and wiping their eyes!

Parental feedback has been phenomenally positive with mums and dads writing letters to the Trust urging them to continue to fund this project, offering other children a chance to experience success and learn from their mistakes.

Sophie Murfin, Executive Principal of the Trust, said, “If this level of progress can be achieved in 6 weeks, imagine what can be achieved in 6 months! I am devoted to this project and supporting the mental health and well-being of our children. Seeing the positive impact on the children is what makes me get up in a morning.”

The CEO of the Trust, Chris O’Shaughnessy, explained at the open day, “It has been an expensive project, but if the impact we have seen this morning affects only one child, then it is money well spent. I support this project whole –heartedly moving forward and see it continuing to grow as I know how devoted Mrs Murfin and Team Up are to these children.”

Last summer, the Wise Owl Trust was visited by Tom Bennett, the behaviour Tzar and are named in the ‘Behaviour in Schools Review’ which was launched on 24th March 2017. Read it here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-in-schools

To read more about Team Up and its continuing achievements, go to: (hyperlink to Team Up website)