Teaching children to know themselves

Lucas Motion, Head of Faraday Prep School, on meeting the challenges of post-lockdown education

Faraday is a small, nurturing school committed to academic excellence and children’s wellbeing and emotional health. With a little more than 100 children in total and average class sizes of 15, every teacher knows every child and we tailor instruction to meet the needs of individual children.

We recognise that with the right support, children learn to articulate and manage their emotions, deal with conflict, solve problems and understand things from another person’s perspective. Now more than ever, it is essential that we teach these social and emotional skills which are so effective in supporting learning and beneficial to outcomes in later life.

The world is faster, smarter and more demanding than ever before and children need language and high quality interactions with adults throughout their daily lives to help them navigate it. With the pressure to cover the curriculum and succeed academically, it might feel as if there is little time for developing such skills. Given our size, we are able to prioritise these high quality social interactions with every child while maintaining high expectations and a love of learning that is so integral to their transition to secondary school and beyond.

In the wake of the pandemic, our youngest children have lived much of their lives under lockdowns, many with interrupted social paths. I am not alone in noticing that 4 and 5 year olds have taken longer to settle in. Some find it a real challenge to play together, to share and to regulate their emotions. Some children’s communication and language skills are delayed and meaningful conversations are important for language development, enabling children to practise language and social skills and receive feedback from children and adults.

At Faraday children develop lifelong relationships with their teachers and friends in an environment where they are known and appreciated as a whole person. These strong relationships help our children to feel safe and included, to recognise similarities and celebrate our differences.

Our aim is to teach children to know themselves, to know others, to look after one another, to respect diversity, show empathy and be responsible. In order to do that we have built a cycle of values, chosen by children and staff, that reflects the vision, values and context of our school. These include friendship, independence, forgiveness, trust, perseverance and love. Values are introduced at the beginning of each month in a whole-school assembly and filter into lessons and activities in the classroom. This allows for the vocabulary of values to be shared and modelled so that it becomes intrinsic to the culture and ethos of the school. At the end of each month, each class chooses their ‘values champions’ who are recognised and rewarded in celebration assemblies.

Our children are happy, confident and articulate and, above all, they love coming to school. This means they are highly engaged and have a sense of personal responsibility for their learning and for the community. Pupils also have opportunities to participate in clubs, house events, sports and the arts, allowing them to mix with other year groups while developing meaningful hobbies and interests.

Faraday’s unique riverside location provides a magical environment and access to a stimulating, creative community on Trinity Buoy Wharf, E14. We are proud to be part of this creative hub for arts and cultural activities. The area is also a base for the English National Ballet, The Big Draw and The Prince’s Foundation to name a few significant neighbours, so our children have a strong sense of community, often visiting the Wharf and inviting its residents in for workshops and assemblies.

In the complex realities of twenty-first century life, society thrives or falls by the quality of our relationships. I believe that our sense of community, coupled with sensitive and stimulating interactions, will empower children to be the teachers and leaders of the future and give them the best possible start in life.

This article first appeared in the 2022/23 edition of Which London School? & the South-East, which you can read in full below: