3rd July
BARNSTON PRIMARY SCHOOL
What a fantastic school Barnston Primary is! This was our Thumbs Up new facilitator Debbie's first programme, and what a great one to start with. The children were incredibly receptive to the work and seemed to enjoy each and every moment of it. The feedback below was so lovely to read, and we would like to wish you all a wonderful time at high school and thank you for your great comments about the programme:-
1) Did you enjoy the Thumbs Up Education Programme?
- 100% of the children said 'yes'
- "Yes it was really helpful"
- "Yes I really enjoyed it"
- "Yes it was really fun and enjoyable and I learnt a lot"
2) How did the programme help you the most?
- "It helped to know how to calm down for my first day at school"
- "It helped me to start being excited about high school as I was a bit nervous about it"
- "It told me about different things I need to know when I am older"
- "It helped by telling me how to make new friends and how to deal with bullying"
- "The programme helped me by telling us about how to make friends in high school because I am going to my new school on my own"
- "It made me a lot more confident"
- "It helped me to stop being sad in a thought cycle"
- "It helped me with my anger"
- "It gave me courage on going to high school and helped me understand the importance of it"
- "It helped me boost my confidence, and made me realise that I wasn't the only one who was nervous"
COMMENT FROM THUMBS UP:- It is very important that children realise that the negative feelings that they may be experiencing are natural and that other children will be feeling the same way. This normalises the feeling and enables the child to accept it and thus are more likely to be able to verbalise it.
3) Is there anything else you would like to see included in the programme?
- 99% of the children said 'no'
- "Maybe a bit more on bullying"
- "I'd like more on how to deal with the hard work"
- "I'd like a bit more activities"
COMMENT FROM THUMBS UP:- I am always coming up with new activities to incorporate in the programme, sometimes it's hard with the time I have, but I always try my best to continue to evolve the programme.
4) Is there anything you didn't feel was very useful or didn't enjoy?
- 99% of the children said 'no'
- "I didn't see the point of the exercise when I was pushed around the class by an 'emotion'"
COMMENT FROM THUMBS UP:- The purpose of this activity is when a child is experiencing a particular negative emotion, we ask the other child to 'play' that emotion (eg anger) and push the first child around (as mentally an emotion does), and then help them to understand that by confronting that emotion rather than allowing it to continue to push you around can achive a more positive response.
5) Did you think Sue and Debbie presented the programme well to you? And do you think they could have done anything differently?
- "I think Sue presented the programme really well, there's nothing she could do differently"
- "She made it fun"
- "Sue was really good at showing us everything"
- "She was fab and fun but stern and also she spoke clearly"
- "It was perfect"
- "She was great. She told us important things, but still having fun and she involved our comments"
- "Sue and Debbie were both very helpful"
- "She was amazing and fun"
- "She was funny, helpful and jolly"
- "She couldn't have helped me more!"
- "Despite Sue sometimes forgetting things, i think that made it better and she could really relate to us and us to her. Perfect!"
COMMENT FROM THUMBS UP:- Thank you for this last comment Josh, it did make me smile (and you asked me to mention your name!). I'm sorry I did forget a couple of things, but it was because this is the first time that I had presented the new transistion programme in its entirety, but thank you for your lovely comments Josh
6) Do you have anything else to say about the programme?
- "It was a great experience to learn a lot and I really enjoyed it"
- "Does Thumbs Up come to high schools?"
- "It will really help me next year for high school, will you come to my new school?"
- "It was amazing and pens are amazing!"
- "I loved all of it"
- "Sue and Debbie were great and it helped me. I like the thing about the wristbands"
- "It was amazing and made me feel happy and confident about high school. Thank you so much"
- "Thumbs Up was great"
- "It was great and useful and it was still fun! Sue and Debbie were wonderful and very reliable"
- "I love the pens and wristbands"
- "It was an amazing experience"
- "It was very funny and easy to understand what Sue and Debbie were talking about"
- "It's really enjoyable and I'd recommend it to anyone who is struggling physically or emotionally"
- "#nailedit"
- "My pen ran out!"
COMMENT FROM THUMBS UP:- I am so sorry about your pen. If you ask your parents to email Thumbs Up, I will pop a new one into the post for you!