Students at King’s Leadership Academy Warrington recently took part in a series of assemblies dedicated to emotional intelligence and positive mindset.
A key focus of the assemblies, which were delivered by Access Arrangement Coordinator Kathryn Iddon, was the importance of self-awareness. Self-awareness is one of the values that the Great Schools Trust is built upon, and Kathryn decided to run these assemblies to remind the students of how their mindset and attitude can affect those around them.
Kathryn has a real passion for this topic, and often re-reads The Arbinger Institute’s Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out Of The Box, as this has some “great advice on mindset and emotional intelligence.”
During the assemblies, Kathryn discussed real-world situations and encouraged students to metaphorically put themselves in someone else’s shoes. She gave the example of being stuck in traffic and seeing other drivers who seem to be pushing in the queue. Students made several insightful suggestions regarding the emotions the driver may feel, and discussed how we can fall into stereotyping drivers based on the little we see of them. Kathryn explains she “wanted to demonstrate that stereotyping is pointless and unhelpful - it doesn’t help people get to their destination any quicker!”
Kathryn also embedded discussions around emotional intelligence into her driving example, in respect to not knowing what is going on in other people’s lives. Other drivers may be dealing with an urgent situation or trying to make it to an important appointment, so giving people the benefit of the doubt is the emotionally intelligent thing to do.
Kathryn explains that getting angry can worsen a situation, while being understanding and displaying emotional intelligence results in more win-win situations.
Although the students are too young to drive, the principles of the driving example can be applied to many other situations they may encounter in day-to-day life. Kathryn says: “There will be instances in school where students get a snapshot of a situation, whereby they may think that someone is being treated preferentially, but the reality is that there is much more than meets the eye. I see students all making their best efforts to follow the ASPIRE code, which may come across a little differently between different people and it may vary from day to day too.”
Kathryn challenged the students who attended her assemblies to come up with examples of how they could demonstrate emotional intelligence in an everyday situation. There were countless fantastic examples and it was difficult to choose the single best response, so Kathryn chose two students who demonstrated the greatest endeavour in putting together an example of positive mindset/ emotional intelligence.
Kathryn felt the assemblies also successfully demonstrated the value of integrity, as well as the importance of reflecting on our thoughts, ideals, and perceptions, and making changes to our viewpoint and behaviour where necessary.
Kathryn greatly enjoyed presenting the assemblies and believes the students got a lot from it: “I feel as though this has given the students an opportunity to get to know me a little better, and for them to see how staff in all roles demonstrate the trust’s values.
I feel that the students will now be able to understand how our self- awareness is something that we keep working on, even as adults. The feedback from the students has been positive, with many saying they felt it would help them and others.”