Cool in School – A site about keeping your cool in school

CoolinSchool.co.uk

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The Keeping Your Cool in School programme was first established as “Cool in School” in 2007. It has been redesigned to support children in developing & maintaining positive relationships; becoming more confident in tackling challenging situations and enabling them to have a better understanding of their responsibilities in school and beyond. It provides them with the skills to manage emotions and raises awareness of wider issues affecting them and their peers.

Each level of the programme explores a range of responses to different situations, focusing on aggressive, avoidant & assertive (cool) responses. It provides a range of age specific resources through primary school by encouraging and developing the attitudes and life-skills for children to grow as individuals and to thrive within the school community and beyond.

The overall aims of the programme are to:

help children recognise and discuss their feelings about themselves and others
equip children with the attitudes and skills they need to thrive in a changing society
encourage parents and staff to work together to teach children respect for themselves and one another, in order that they cope well with the challenges of school.

The programme has been updated for 2024 to reflect:

Changes in society – including our attitudes, values and beliefs.
Our developing knowledge of how children and young people are impacted by conflict and disputes within relationships.
The ways we use technology as a learning tool within our school.
A streamlined approach to planning for the delivery of ‘Keeping Your Cool In School’ – allowing for teacher judgement with regards to how to frame questions and discussion activities.

This updated resource was created by Fife Council Education staff alongside the Digital Bricks Learning team and Scottish Mediation. Special thanks goes to Capshard PS, Torbain PS, Methilhill PS, Pitcoudie PS, Wormit PS, St Patrick’s PS, Glenwood HS, Fife Professional Learning Team, Pupil Support Service and Educational Psychology Service.

As a team of passionate and knowledgeable educators who understand the diverse needs and initiatives within school communities, we have developed this resource for 2024 to empower children in building lifelong skills for healthy relationships and mindsets. The approach aims to enhance the health and wellbeing curriculum and we welcome all feedback.

"I am delighted to support this refreshed and expanded ‘Keeping Your Cool in School’ resource. I have been encouraged by the positive engagement with teachers, headteachers and other school staff during the update and redesign of these resources and the enthusiasm that they have for them. It is important that the next generation of children and young people are equipped with skills to manage their emotions, develop relationships and become confident in difficult situations and that is exactly what these resources can achieve. Focusing on managing relationships, particularly within the school setting, will enable children to become aware of their own mental health and wellbeing and that of others whilst building their emotional literacy. I would urge school staff to make use of these helpful resources to make a huge difference to the mental health and wellbeing of our children and young people."

"Education Scotland is delighted to support the ‘Keeping Your Cool in School’ resource developed by Fife Council. This resource helps learners to build their own resilience and develop strategies to support their own and other’s responses. It will also be a great addition to the suite of resources supporting positive relationships and behaviours as part of the national strategy relating to this."

"This updated resource empowers young people to cope with situations they may encounter in their daily lives in school, society, and beyond."

"The digitally refreshed resource takes into account current knowledge about brain development & stress responses. Keeping Your Cool In School encourages young people to use a range of strategies which can help manage conflict in a positive way."

"We loved working with the team and teachers at Fife Council to take the paper based story and workbook and create an online resource. The characters and scenarios have been digitally transformed to the big screen, offering more learning to more pupils throughout Scotland."