The Empowerment Approach
At Halterworth Primary School we follow the Empowerment Approach.
Our overarching ambition is to create an inclusive school where children are supported to become confident, prosocial members of our school community who have both the skills and the intrinsic motivation to do the right thing, whether or not someone is watching. We believe that when children feel better they do better, which is why we have adopted the Empowerment Approach.
The Empowerment Approach teaches everyone:
- About how the brain works
- A way to help a child work out the unmet needs behind their difficulties and know ways to fill these needs in helpful ways
- How to help a child build the skills needed to manage well in learning and play - even when their needs are not being met
- How to help children prepare to be at their best for learning and play
- The best way to react and help someone get back on track when things go wrong
- How to follow-up and problem-solve with children so they manage better next time and make good progress over time
Through adult support, the children develop understanding of their 5C needs and how it feels to have these met and unmet. We cannot have all our needs met all of the time and so we need to develop the skills to manage this.
Some children need more support than others to manage when they have unmet needs. But with this approach, a key adult will help them develop their awareness of this and plan a pathway to independence.
If children cannot meet the high expectations, they might need support to develop the skills to do this. We know that children need to connect to calm before they can reflect and repair.
Every time there is an incident when a child has not met the expectations, they will engage with a Reflection and Coaching session with a key adult.
