The Brilliant ME! in Action approach 

The Brilliant ME! in Action approach  - Our Guiding Principles

• We believe that wellbeing is a vital part of any successful school and so we believe that it cannot be ‘a nice to do’. On the other hand, we don’t
• feel it is productive to call for this, or any other approach, to be a ‘should do’. Rather it is offered as a ‘could do’ to contribute to ‘achieving and thriving’ supporting attendance, learning and achievement of all pupils.
• Each school has specific needs and starting points. Therefore, our support is not a ‘one size fits all’ approach: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
• We aim to share best possible guidance available to support effective implementation as appropriate to the needs and circumstances of individual schools.
• At the heart of a whole school approach is staff wellbeing. We recognise school staff are under tremendous pressure without capacity to add‘yet another initiative’. This isn’t intended to be. It is a guide to how SEL can be effective in helping to reduce some of the challenges and pressures school face.
• We are determined to help avoid ‘initiative overload’. We encourage you to identify, prioritise and do a small number of things well. This gives time for approaches to be introduced at a considered pace, giving time for them to become embedded and thoughtfully assessed.

• Social and Emotional Learning is not ‘therapy’. It is a ‘universal approach’. It is the Ordinary Magic24 of everyday interactions where everyone in the school community can help all children (and each other) feel safe, experience connectedness, experience supportive relationships and have a sense of belonging in school.

• We strive to make sure our work is aligned to and consistent with other wellbeing and education support available to schools in Cornwall.

• Our support is evidence based and draws on effective practice locally, nationally and beyond and aligns to policy / guidance from government as available.
• The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child underpins everything we do.