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Welcome to the January 2004 Issue. This month:
Please do send us an email if you have any feedback about this newsletter, or if you'd like to share your experiences of SSEHV, to: feedback@ssehv.org.uk. Kind
Regards, |
| New Year, new holiday schools! It's still January, but already work is well underway for SSEHV holiday schools that are planned for 2004. (For anyone new to holiday schools - these are out of term-time fun days usually lasting one week, organised by SSEHV trained teachers and volunteers, where children can explore and learn about human values through drama, role play, group sessions and games). At the time of writing, at least three holiday programmes are scheduled to take place during the Easter holidays, one in the London Borough of Brent, one in Oldham, Lancashire, and one in Dockenfield, Surrey. A further Easter holiday programme is yet to be confirmed in Croydon, Surrey, and summer programmes are already confirmed for Harrow and Croydon. Around 100 children are expected to attend the Brent holiday programme, from the school in which it is being held. An SSEHV Parenting Workshop for up to 25 parents will also be run at the school in conjunction with the holiday programme. This is the first time that a Parenting Workshop will be run in conjunction with a children's holiday programme, but it is hoped that most, if not all holiday schools this year will also offer a programme for parents. Bahnoon Agnew, the organiser of the Dockenfield programme, is inviting children to participate from across Surrey and the surrounding counties, as well as volunteers - both SSEHV trained and untrained - to help out with all aspects of running it. Community
Cohesion Community cohesion is becoming a key theme for local governments throughout the UK, with many local authorities employing 'community cohesion officers'. SSEHV may well prove to be a very valuable tool to help them meet their objectives of bringing communities together. If
you would like more information about any of these programmes, register
a child to attend, or would like to volunteer, please email feedback@ssehv.org.uk
and your enquiry will be forwarded to the relevant programme organiser.
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Christmas Holiday Programme in Oldham An SSEHV Holiday Programme for 14 children took place from 29th December '03 to 2nd January '04 in Fitton Hill, Oldham. This was the third Programme to take place in the same venue during 2003. Most of the children who came had attended one of the earlier programmes in the summer. The SSEHV teaching methodology was was used throughout, with the focus being on a different value every day. As in the previous programmes, the afternoons were spent doing puppetry, this time with a theme of pantomime. The children listened to a story and were then asked to examine the values in it and change any bad values into good values. For example, in Goldilocks and The Three Bears, instead of Goldilocks going into the house when the bears were out, she waited until the three bears came home. The bears then invited her in and offered her their porridge, chairs and beds. In return, Goldilocks helped them to wash up and make their beds, and invited them to return the visit in her own home. Other stories included the Wizard of Oz and the Shoemaker and the Elves. Parents came on the last day to see the puppetry performances. Barbara Edmonson, one of the organisers of all three Oldham programmes, commented, "There seemed to be a difference in how the programme affected the children compared to the summer schools. I think because there were fewer children and we had more time to talk, they let go of some of their emotions, which is always healthy." If you would like to get in touch with Barbara, please email feedback@ssehv.org.uk and we will put you in touch with her. A fourth programme is planned in Oldham for Easter 04 (see New Year, new holiday schools!). |
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Jonathan Wilcock completed his SSEHV Foundation Course in 2002 and has been working towards the SSEHV Advanced OCN Level 3 Certificate, which requires classroom practice. Here Jonathan describes the experience in his own words. "I currently teach SSEHV at a primary school in Battersea, South London, with two different classes of eight and nine year olds. I go in every other Wednesday, taking one class from 10.20 - 11.30 followed by the other class from 11.30 - 12.30. One class is very unruly and sometimes hard to control. For example one week during silent sitting the children wouldn't stop talking and were generally being disruptive, so I said "OK, if you're not going to sit silently, fair enough, I'm going to do the silent sitting myself anyway." After a while, the children slowly but surely calmed down until we had total silence again. With patience and perseverance, the children seem to be concentrating better and a small percentage of them are trying really hard with silent sitting. The singing, story and group activities seem to hold the whole class' attention well. The main problem is getting them calm at the start of the lesson. However, they still generally give very positive feedback and seem to enjoy the lessons. The other class, although considerably larger, is more disciplined. We have a lot of fun exploring the different values together. All of the teaching components go down well. Most children enjoy the silent sitting. There is always a good atmosphere, to the point I often leave feeling completely exhilarated. I worked with a different class before the 2003 summer holiday for thee or four lessons. I have worked with these current two classes approximately six or seven times each. There is so much to learn, especially regarding maintaining discipline. I am quite pleased with the way things are progressing. Some days are better than others, but generally speaking the children seem to have a positive experience in SSEHV lessons. I hope to continue with the teaching, and as I get closer to the teachers at the school, I would very much hope to get them more involved, ideally suggesting that they do the training themselves. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved with SSEHV for the encouragement and help that I have been given. The training and teaching have had a profound effect on my personal development."
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THE
SLIPPERY SLOPE Halfway through the party Dafydd played a trick on Thomas. He put a huge spider down his back! (That poor spider!) Now Thomas had already told Dafydd how scared of spiders he was, so it was really unkind of Dafydd to do this to him. He was so frightened that he cried, shouted and danced around looking really daft, but he couldn't help it. He was so scared that his heart felt as if it would jump out of his body! Thomas was glad when the party finished and he could go home. On Monday he had to face the whole class and, worst of all, Sian. He felt so embarrassed that he felt sick. He had to keep swallowing to keep down the really nervous feeling that he had. Dafydd laughed at him and called him 'Chicken'. He made his arms flap up and down like the wings of a chicken and he made clucking noises. Thomas was starting to feel very upset, until he caught sight of Sian who smiled at him. Somehow that made him feel much better about himself. About
a week later, Sian and Thomas were walking up the 'Slippery Slope' together.
This was a steep part of the mountain just behind Thomas's house. His
mum would watch them from her kitchen window sliding down on plastic bags.
It was brill! The only problem was there was a big drop at the bottom.
If you were clever you could steer either left or right to avoid it. But
if you weren't very good at it you would go right over the edge and straight
into the brambles - OUCH!!! Do you know that Thomas never told anyone about Dafydd crying, or how he helped him, and now the first two boys to run into the yard together at break-time every day are Dafydd and Thomas. Dafydd is very lucky to have a friend like Thomas to whom he had been unkind, but even so could be a good friend to him.
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Several SSEHV Foundation courses are scheduled to take place around the UK in the coming months, as follows: Oldham
- 14th February to 29th February (Saturdays and Sundays) For
further information, please go to the training section of our website,
www.ssehv.org.uk
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Copyright
© 2004 British Institute of Sathya Sai Education (BISSE). BISSE is
a non-profit organisation committed to promoting human values in education.
Registered address: The Glen, Cuckoo Hill, Pinner, Middlesex HA5 2BE United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 20 8429 2677 Email: enquiries@ssehv.org.uk |