Free CPD for Mental Health Awareness

Mental Health Awareness Week

Hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, Mental Health Awareness Week takes place from 18-24 May 2020. There are so many organisations offering free online learning to support our awareness and understanding. The below providers are offering free CPD courses, often accredited, which can be undertaken by staff whilst working from home or in isolation. All the courses are free, however, some do charge if you want to upgrade to receive a certificate and/or a badge.

Course title	Links
Teaching students who have suffered complex trauma - course starts on 15th June	https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/teaching-students-trauma
We all have mental health: an introduction for teachers	https://www.samh.org.uk/about-mental-health/elearning-for-teachers
Making sense of mental health problems	https://www.open.edu/openlearn/health-sports-psychology/making-sense-mental-health-problems/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab
Keeping them safe	https://paceuk.info/training/keep-them-safe/
Young people and their mental health	https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/young-people-mental-health
Professional relationships with young people	https://www.open.edu/openlearn/health-sports-psychology/professional-relationships-young-people/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab
Emotional intelligence at work	https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/emotional-intelligence-at-work
Understanding young minds	https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/courses/safeguarding/understanding-young-minds

FREE Level 2 Distance Learning Qualifications

In this time of uncertainty, professionals are pulling together and supporting one another. Below are a list of courses that you can complete at home. All recognition goes to Milton Keynes College.

Milton Keynes College are delighted to announce that they offer the following Distance Learning courses. These courses are usually available at no cost to the individual.

All courses are accredited to NCFE/CACHE Level 2. Please book early to secure your place.


Certificate in Understanding Autism


Certificate in Awareness of Mental Health Problems


Certificate in Principles of Working with Individuals with Learning Disabilities


Certificate in Understanding Behaviour that Challenges


Certificate in Understanding Specific Learning Difficulties


Certificate in Children & Young People’s Mental Health


Certificate in Understanding Safeguarding and Prevent

For further information on these Distance Learning courses or any other training requirements, please contact our Distance Learning Team on:


01908 684154 or email distance.learning@mkcollege.ac.uk

Free online training

Understanding Young Minds

https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/courses/safeguarding/understanding-young-minds

Keeping them safe: Sexual exploitation

https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/resources/free-courses/keep-them-safe

Introduction into safeguarding

https://prosperoteaching.com/free-accredited-online-safeguarding/

Keeping them safe

https://paceuk.info/training/keep-them-safe/

Female Genital mutilation

https://www.virtual-college.co.uk/resources/free-courses/recognising-and-preventing-fgm

Prevent training

https://www.elearning.prevent.homeoffice.gov.uk/edu/screen1.html

Caring for vulnerable children

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/vulnerable-children

Listening to young children: Transition

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/education-development/listening-young-children-supporting-transition/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Attachment in the Early Years

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/education-development/early-years/attachment-the-early-years/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Understanding Early Years Environments

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/education/professional-development-education/understanding-early-years-environments-and-childrens-spaces/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Exploring Children’s learning
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/education/educational-technology-and-practice/educational-practice/exploring-childrens-learning/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

NQT Programme - Session 1

NQT Session 1 - Personal Wellbeing and Mindfulness

This week we started our first NQT session for 2018/19. The first session was to think about Personal Wellbeing and Mindfulness through discussion and thought provoking activities, led by AHT and facilitator, Georgina ward.

Katherine Weare Emeritus Professor, Universities of Exeter and Southampton skw@soton.ac.uk report discusses that research identifies that the wider adult and workplace literature on the impacts of mindfulness, show:

• reductions in stress, burnout and anxiety, including a reduction in days off work and feelings of task and time pressure, improved ability to manage thoughts and behaviour, an increase in coping skills, motivation, planning and problem solving, and taking more time to relax. 
• better mental health including less distress, negative emotion, depression and anxiety. 
• greater wellbeing, including life satisfaction, self-confidence, self-efficacy, selfcompassion and sense of personal growth. 
• increased kindness and compassion to others, including greater empathy, tolerance, forgiveness and patience, and less anger and hostility. 
• better physical health, including lower blood pressure, declines in cortisol (a stress hormone) and fewer reported physical health problems. 
• increased cognitive performance, including the ability to pay attention and focus, make decisions and respond flexibly to challenges. 
• enhanced job performance, including better classroom management and organisation, greater ability to prioritise, to see the whole picture, to be more selfmotivated and autonomous, to show greater attunement to students’ needs, and achieve more supportive relationships with them. 

We look forwrad to welcoming our NQT back for the seocnd session on Tuesday 27th November.

Leadership - It is not all about me!

One of the greatest things about leadership is that we all bring something different to the table. If you were to read articles on good leadership qualities, you would usually see factors like integrity, effective communication and influence. These are all wonderful qualities of a leader, but to stand out as a leader —you need to put people ahead of yourself.

Read the full article here

Listening to understand... not reply

Listening is an art and too few actually do it well.

1. Putting our own spin on the purpose or content of the conversation.

Have you ever started a conversation and immediately put a thought or question out there that makes your point of view clear and fixed? Instead of giving the other individual time to formulate a response, we immediately re-phrase the question or remark and answer it ourselves.

2. Assuming their response and planning an answer

Even when we stop and wait for a response , we often don’t hear, as we are concentrating on our reply to what we assume they will say. The desire to be perceived as quick witted or decisive means we could be missing so much vital and crucial information.

3. Read the non verbal clues

Watch for non-verbal body language. When a person is excited they intuitively lean forward as if to say, “don’t miss this next point because it is very important”. Remain quiet, not just to hear every word, notice the inflection of their voice, whether they raise or lower the volume and the tone they use. Non-verbal hints can make up more than 90% of the communication going on in a conversation.

4. Wait before you respond... count to 8!

By speaking too soon you may cut off the other individual's response. Be smart and give the person  time to acknowledge your comment or statement. It builds respect and credibility. You also allow yourself time to hear and take notice of non verbal cues.

Read the full article here

Mistakes Leaders Make That Cause Good Teachers To Quit:

Sometimes there are some simple things that leadership teams could tweak to help with staff retention.

1. Showing favouritism.

We know too well about school politics. It’s really sad when teachers can tell who will be getting the next promotion because of their close relationship with the leader responsible for interviewing. Favouring - or being perceived to favour - certain staff for promotions and assignments is a sure way to damage team morale. This perception destroys team spirit and undermines engagement.

2. Leaders are quick to blame.

A bad boss assumes the worst. Throwing employees under the bus rather than standing up for your team in distressing moments is a sure way to lose points. Everyone is looking to you in moments like these. As the leader, why not act with dignity and advocate for your team? If you want to build loyalty, you must demonstrate loyalty. When you blame employees, it destroys your credibility and leads to a culture of distrust. Good bosses don’t dwell on mistakes made by others, hold grudges or point fingers. They take responsibility and focus on solving problems.

3. They don’t show they care. 

A bad boss treats workers like they’re interchangeable. Employees want to work for someone who treats them like a person. They have emotions and personal lives. If you care about employees, you will not continuously push them to work long hours or contact them after hours. Taking a healthy interest in your employees' lives is the first step in relationship building. It starts with supporting work/life balance. Show that you sincerely care about their well being. I can’t emphasize this point enough. If a staff member is dealing with personal issues as illness or bereavement show empathy instead of solely focusing on when they will be back out to work.

“Having a personality of caring about people is important. You can't be a good leader unless you generally like people. That is how you bring out the best in them.” 

- Richard Branson

4. Leaders don't recognise accomplishments. 

No one likes to feel ignored or like their efforts are taken for granted. As Dale Carnegie stated,

"People work for money but go the extra mile for recognition, praise and rewards." 

Appreciate employees, show them how much you value their efforts. It does not have to be always about monetary rewards. But simple things as "Thank You" and "Well done" goes a long way. Bad bosses make work drudgery and it's always onward to the next task. Employees spend over half of their lives at work. Create a fun atmosphere where you celebrate successes and bring people together.

5. They have no interest in employees' development.
One of the top reasons employees leave a company is the lack of development opportunities. Employees can interpret an employer’s unwillingness to invest in training as a disregard for their professional development. Acknowledge and encourage strengths, recognize the different skills employees possess and recommend them for opportunities. Subsequently, if a team member has informed you they want to move to another department support their wishes, don’t be an obstacle to them.

Read the full article here:

Habits of Mentally Strong People

Despite West Point Military Academy’s rigorous selection process, one in five students drop out by graduation day. A sizeable number leave the summer before freshman year, when cadets go through a rigorous program called “Beast.” Beast consists of extreme physical, mental, and social challenges that are designed to test candidates’ perseverance.

University of Pennsylvania psychologist Angela Duckworth conducted a study in which she sought to determine which cadets would make it through the Beast program. The rigorous interviews and testing that cadets went through to get into West Point in the first place told Angela that IQ and talent weren’t the deciding factors.

So, Angela developed her own test to determine which cadets had the mental strength to conquer the Beast. She called it the “Grit Scale,” and it was a highly accurate predictor of cadet success. The Grit Scale measures mental strength, which is that unique combination of passion, tenacity, and stamina that enables you to stick with your goals until they become a reality.

To increase your mental strength, you simply need to change your outlook. When hard times hit, people with mental strength suffer just as much as everyone else. The difference is that they understand that life’s challenging moments offer valuable lessons. In the end, it’s these tough lessons that build the strength you need to succeed.

Developing mental strength is all about habitually doing the things that no one else is willing to do. If you aren’t doing the following things on a regular basis, you should be, for these are the habits that mentally strong people rely on.

You have to fight when you already feel defeated. A reporter once asked Muhammad Ali how many sit-ups he does every day. He responded, “I don’t count my sit-ups, I only start counting when it starts hurting, when I feel pain, cause that’s when it really matters.” The same applies to success in the workplace. 

You always have two choices when things begin to get tough: you can either overcome an obstacle and grow in the process or let it beat you. Humans are creatures of habit. If you quit when things get tough, it gets that much easier to quit the next time. On the other hand, if you force yourself to push through a challenge, the strength begins to grow in you.

1. Delay gratification. 

There was a famous Stanford experiment in which an administrator left a child in a room with a marshmallow for 15 minutes. Before leaving, the experimenter told the child that she was welcome to eat it, but if she waited until he returned without eating it, she would get a second marshmallow. The children that were able to wait until the experimenter returned experienced better outcomes in life, including higher SAT scores, greater career success, and even lower body mass indexes. 

The point is that delay of gratification and patience are essential to success. People with mental strength know that results only materialize when you put in the time and forego instant gratification.

2. Make mistakes, and try again.

In a study at the College of William and Mary, researchers interviewed over 800 entrepreneurs and found that the most successful among them tend to have two critical things in common: they’re terrible at imagining failure and they tend not to care what other people think of them. 

In other words, the most successful entrepreneurs put no time or energy into stressing about their failures as they see failure as a small and necessary step in the process of reaching their goals.

3. Keep your emotions in check. 

Negative emotions challenge your mental strength every step of the way. While it’s impossible not to feel your emotions, it’s completely under your power to manage them effectively and to keep yourself in control of them. When you let your emotions overtake your ability to think clearly, it’s easy to lose your resolve. A bad mood can make you lash out or stray from your chosen direction just as easily as a good mood can make you overconfident and impulsive.

4. Lead when no one else follows. 

It’s easy to set a direction and to believe in yourself when you have support, but the true test of strength is how well you maintain your resolve when nobody else believes in what you’re doing. People with mental strength believe in themselves no matter what, and they stay the course until they win people over to their ways of thinking.

5. Be kind to people who are rude to you. 

When people treat you poorly, it’s tempting to stoop to their level and return the favor. People with mental strength don’t allow others to walk all over them, but that doesn’t mean they’re rude to them, either. Instead, they treat rude and cruel people with the same kindness they extend to everyone else, because they don’t allow another person’s negativity to bring them down.

Mental strength is as rare as it is important. The good news is that any of us can get stronger with a little extra focus and effort.

Read the full article here:

Dr. Travis Bradberry is the award-winning co-author of the #1 bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and the cofounder of TalentSmart, the world's leading provider of emotional intelligence tests and training, serving more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies.

Why Leaders Should Care about Employee Loyalty

Loyal teachers are a major asset for a strong school. Schools may think that teachers are automatically loyal just because they’re getting paid. The truth is loyalty isn’t for sale. Loyalty has to be earned by the way you treat your staff. Transforming your school culture isn’t easy. You can’t do it alone. 

Why do teachers leave?

Poor leadership may lie at the heart of a teacher's departure. People don’t leave jobs, they leave leaders (line managers). Who is the school’s first point of contact with that member of staff? If that contact is bad, the relationship with the school will be bad and the teacher won’t stay long. 

In the present environment, it becomes a necessity for schools to have a strategy for retaining their best teachers. Other schools are waiting at the door with "treats" to lure away your top performers. According to data drawn from 30 case studies taken from 11 research papers on the costs of employee turnover, it costs at least 20% of their salary when an employee leaves. These costs reflect the loss of productivity from the departure, the cost of finding a replacement, and the reduced productivity while the new teacher gets up to speed.

How can we raise productivity?

The link between teacher job satisfaction and productivity is long-established. Research has found that happy staff are 12% more productive than their less satisfied counterparts. 

Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to. 

-Richard Branson

Tips To Help You Keep Your Best Teachers
When teachers feel disconnected, undervalued, and unappreciated, it doesn’t take long for them to jump ship and look for another job that will recognize their contributions. The only thing that can stop a high turnover is to give staff a reason to stay, or, even better, multiple reasons. Here are some tips to help retain your best employees:

* Establish a clear vision and moral purpose - and show how the individual can contribute to it. Id staff believe in why you are doing what you do, and see their impact they are more likely to stay. Of course you need to celebrate when you see people actively supporting the vision and let them know that you value their efforts!

* Don’t treat teachers like machines – they will want to know that their leaders understands

 the need for a work/life balance and respects their personal time.

* Create opportunities for growth and development – Always make sure there are ways your staff can grow and can do work that inspires them. Have you got a long term plan for each member of staff? Is access to CPLD equitable? Do staff know what opportunities there are open for them?

* Reward staff efforts - An open school culture with room for recognition and appreciation is very important. If you want the best, you must pay the price for the best.

* Don't micromanage - Trust staff. Give them autonomy and breathing space to get their work done.

* Provide adequate training and support. Training demonstrates a company’s commitment to employees in terms of personal and professional growth.

* Show Empathy. Very few bosses show empathy towards their team members and this helps improve overall team morale and performance.

Furthermore, when people leave your school, find out why. Your school may have morale weaknesses you are not aware of or have been underestimating. In one study, 89% of managers surveyed said they thought most employees leave for better pay. However, another study found that 88% of employees who quit did so for something other than money. Clearly, there is often a disconnect between managers and employees about what motivates an employee to leave. 

Consequently, when people stay with your school, find out why (Stay Interviews). Here’s the reality: employees are only as loyal to the company as they believe the company is loyal to them. Loyalty is a two-way street. So in the end, building a school of committed, loyalty employees ultimately comes down to demonstrating to employees that the company deserves their loyalty.

Read the full article here:

The Future of Leadership: Rise of Automation, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

Brigette Hyacinth

Published on April 5, 2018

Important Career Lessons

Brigette Hyacinth

Bridgette recently published an article on important career lessons, which are often learnt too late in life. Here is a summary, click here for the full article

1. Don't stay in a job you hate. 

You spend half of your life at work. Life is too short to put up with a job you hate or a boss who treats you poorly. Many people convince themselves that they can stay in a job that makes them unhappy because they need the income or because they don’t believe they can find another job. But the truth is spending too much of it in a bad situation will make you miserable and it can affect your health. If you’re in this situation, try taking small steps to where you want to be. You deserve so much better!

2. Take care of yourself 

Our bodies are not machines. You can’t keep going 24/7. The lights won’t always be green. If you don’t slow down, eventually, you will come to a red light and have to make a complete stop. Don’t take your health for granted - no amount of success or money can replace your health.

"Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live." 

- Jim Rohn

3. Rejection and Failure will strengthen you. 

Failure is not the end. Few things in life are certain but failure is. Although it leaves a sour taste, failures are the pillars for success. You gain experiences you could not get any other way. Additionally, rejection is unavoidable in a creative life. Learning how to deal with rejection early on, will keep you from plummeting into a place of immobilizing despair. Rejection hurts but don't dwell on it. If you focus on positive thinking, even the harshest defeat is only a stepping-stone.

4. Worrying doesn’t solve anything. 

It just magnifies fear and creates anxiety. The antidote to fear is action. Don't let fear hold you back. You won’t achieve your goals if you’re afraid to pursue an idea, or are worried what others will think of you. If you push through the worry and the fear you’ll almost always find that you were worried about nothing. Have faith. Don't worry. Patience and Persistence will open the right doors. 

"I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened." 

—Mark Twain

5. Never stop learning. Never stop growing. 

Personal development is continuous. Learn everything about the field you are in and also related fields. Become the expert others look to for advice. With the rate at which technologies are changing, if you decide that you are done learning, you will be left behind. By continuously learning you will be able to keep on top of things, make better decisions and remain "relevant" in this digital era. Try as well to diversify your skill-set so you can have income from more than one sources.

 The finish line is just the beginning of a whole new race.

Retaining Staff - 3 Tips

At this time of year school leaders will be planning for September. Staff will be thinking of where to be next academic year. As a school leader, have you ever lost a great teacher?

The moment you receive their resignation can take you by surprise. However their thought process that led to them resigning most likely happened months. 

When you are leading an organisation it is all too easy to get caught up in the now... absence, daly arrangements, cover, parents, meetings. But if you allow your head to drop and focus on the now, without paying attention to how some of your staff may be wanting to know about the future you can find that there is an erosion of emotional engagement. 

Staff turnover is costly: replacing someone costs a minimum of 6-9 months’ salary. And that’s just the hard costs. There’s also the cost to morale, the classroom impact, and the burden on the school leader trying to fill the gaps, while key initiatives fall further behind.

What can you do as a leader? A lot, and it starts with language. Employees may say they’re leaving for higher pay. There are funding pressures that mean this is always going to feature. In schools of all sizes there are only so many positions that offer additional responsibility. However there are other factors which can be managed. These can be key to maintaining engagement. 

Here are three no cost ways school leaders can keep people engaged:

1. Feedback – Employees lose their emotional connection quickly when there’s no feedback from their school leader. Companies that implement regular employee feedback have a 14.9% lower turnover rate (HubSpot). Shouting “do better” six times a day doesn’t count. It’s simple; when an employee does a good job, tell them.
2. Meaning – If you treat your employees like a number they’ll return the favor. They’ll treat their job like a transaction. Teachers who derive meaning and significance from their work were more than three times as likely to stay with their schools — the highest single impact of any variable according to a global study from Tony Schwartz. It costs you nothing to tell an employee how their actions make a difference to the team, your customers, or the world at large... don't take it for granted.
3. Horizon – When people don’t know where the company is going or where their job is going, there’s no connection to the future. Make a practice of sharing your future vision, and tell your team what’s on the horizon. 

Is it really that bad

There are always going to be times when the job seems overwhelming. Quite often it is all too easy to see only the problems and not realise that there is so much more around you that is going well. The image below is a useful reminder that it is rarely as bad as it seems:

Staff Wellbeing Ideas

Ensuring that you are doing all you can as a leader to recognise the effort your staff are putting in is hard. All day long, tiny acts of kindness and outstanding practice are taking place and you will only see a fraction of them.

How do you communicate your thanks to staff? What do you recognise? Will teams be aware that you do notice?

Here are some simple ideas we have found:

Recognition and rewards:

• Employee awards – nominated within team from team
• Recognition of and incentives for achievements – boxes of chocolates, certificates etc
• Regular praise for good achievements
• Achievable goals with prizes
• Always try to relate to and empathise with your staff. This is paramount when working with our clients so it should be with our peers
• Have a positive part of team meetings – colleagues say something positive or recognise a quality in each other and say it
• Compliments hour – only give nice comments and feedback
• Give staff a “voucher” (£40-50) to spend on training & development that is NOT work related and then publicise what they’ve done
• Listen, ask, keep excellent communications.... buy cake!
• Thank people – make them feel appreciated.
• Say “thank you” to your staff when they have done well (even better with a handwritten or at least personally signed note to them)

Visit the Learning Curve for more ideas

How do you ensure that staff achieve some semblance of a work/life balance? Is there a way that you can help Middle Leaders take the temperature of their team? Is there a 'staff tracker/bingo card' where you try to encourage them to try a range of wellbeing activities to give them a break and help them unwind?

Can you create some time in the day for individuals or teams to take a break?

Here are some simple ways that staff could try to give themselves a break.

Thought For the Day

On the theme of small changes to make a big difference, the story of how the inspirational quotes seen at TfL stations came to be is a great one.

What is the Quote for The Day?

Passengers using Oval station on the Northern line have come to appreciate the ‘Thought for the Day’ quotations put up by station staff in the main concourse.

The innovative project began in 2004 and has been taken up by several other stations on the Underground network.

It’s a team effort, started by station supervisor Anthony Gentles and looked after on a daily basis by station assistant Glen Sutherland.

Anthony Gentles said: “We are here to provide a service to our customers, not just to sell tickets. We like to provide a happy and relaxed environment, which is why we have classical music playing at all times.”

The idea behind ‘Thought for the Day’ was to give passenger’s something inspirational to think about during their journey.

Click here for the article

• What small changes could you make in your school?
• How could you excite staff about new ideas or techniques?
• How would the 'quote for the day' work in your setting?

Small Changes - Big Difference

When looking at resolutions for a New Year it is easy to be seduced by the dramatic... a whole new me! Targets set can easily be vague... get fitter, read more. Too ambitious and it is too easy to give up. Too vague and it is unclear if you have achieved them.

Here are some top tips that we would offer - which are good for any time of the year and not restricted to the first week in January:

1. Be specific. If you are going to get fitter, what do you mean? Is your aim to run without stopping for 10mins? How many minutes can you do now? How do you know? Is your goal appropriate?
2. Do something today... it is very easy to come up with a target that means you can put off any effort. What can you do today to make a difference to your goal
3. Build on an existing behaviour - is there a habit you have which you could develop or improve? Perhaps you already walk for 10 minutes... now you can stretch it to 12?

A key question would be... how will this improve my life, my health, my teaching. If you aren't clear on the expected benefits of the change then how will you stay motivated to achieve it, how will you know if you have achieved it?

Read the article here

Teacher Wellbeing - Sleep Well!

Now that the clocks have gone back and the dark mornings and evenings are setting in, taking care of yourself is vitally important. The 'Christmas' half term can be one of the most demanding on teachers and school staff.

What can you do to be as prepared as possible... sleep well!

Impact of Neglect

This article gives a clear idea of why some of our most vulnerable pupils struggle to develop the behaviours that we take for granted.

Click here for the full article