At the heart of our school, Lisieux,
is our commitment to each student’s wellbeing.
We understand that the wellbeing of each individual is intrinsically linked to their personal and academic success.
We are committed to providing the tools and environment to enable each member of our community to flourish. To do this, we draw on the science of positive psychology as a framework for building a culture of best practice teaching and learning.
What is Positive Education?
Positive Education has been defined as best practice teaching combined with an explicit focus on wellbeing, to support and encourage individuals, schools and communities to flourish. The approach emphasises individual strengths to promote learning, builds awareness of a growth mindset and incorporates practice in mindfulness and gratitude. Positive Education emphasises the importance of training the heart as well as the mind in education.
The science of Positive Education has several key underlying principles:
- Student wellbeing is closely linked to academic success. When students feel connected, safe and happy, they are more likely to thrive in their learning;
- In today’s world, increasing statistics of psychological distress and mental illness are challenging, and such stresses impact on the young learner;
- Schools play a critical role in helping young people to develop cognitive, social and emotional skills, and are well placed to do this;
- Skills and mindsets that encourage positive relationships, positive emotions, resilience and character strengths can be taught.
These factors support the need to be proactive about wellbeing and to adopt a holistic approach that fosters the development of the whole person. Lisieux has adopted a whole school Positive Education approach and is particularly focused on nurturing each individual’s body, mind and spirit.
We do this because:
- We want our children to know themselves well and to feel their life has meaning and purpose;
- We want our children to have positive relationships with others;
- We want our children to flourish.
What does Positive Education look like at Lisieux?
Positive Education involves:
- Explicit teaching of essential life skills such as resilience, grit, flexibility, creativity, courage, perseverance and engagement;
- A focus on ‘growth mindset’ rather than a ‘fixed mindset’ which enables the learner to recognise opportunity in failure and to understand the power of ‘yet’;
- The identification of individual character strengths and the positive effect they experience when they use them;
- Practise gratitude;
- Practise mindfulness.