At R.E.A.L., we’re committed to supporting and promoting positive mental health and the wellbeing of our learners.
If any learners are struggling with their mental health, please know they can speak to us. We do offer a counselling service at R.E.A.L. giving children and young people high quality, professional support for a wide range of emotional needs.
Significant research has shown that counselling can help young people’s confidence, resilience, sense of self-worth, their relationships, school attendance and academic achievement. With its holistic approach, R.E.A.L. Counselling Service welcomes the young people with non-judgemental, empathic support for anything the learner is finding difficult.
Any R.E.A.L. learner in Key Stage 3 or above (Year 7 upwards), or their parents/ carers, can now make a confidential self-referral directly to the counselling service using the following link:
R.E.A.L Counselling Referral Form
Alternatively, the learner can speak to a Tutor or their Learning Manager and ask for a referral to be made on their behalf.
For all enquiries about the counselling service, please email counselling@real-education.org
As part of our GCSE Biology curriculum, Learners at RIS Mansfield’s City Hub recently dissected a pig’s heart in class.
Dissecting a heart can teach learners about the structure and function of a heart, as well as how blood flows through the body.
Jayne Barrell, Deputy Head at R.E.A.L. said: “The learners very carefully dissected the heart piece by piece, so they could study each part of the heart’s anatomy. They thoroughly enjoyed the lesson and doing something they had never done before.
“It was a really brilliant lesson to observe and delivered by Jess Norman, who joined R.E.A.L. as a Science Teacher at the beginning of the school year. Jess is amazing, and the young people love her and are so engaged in her lessons. We’re so glad she’s working here at R.E.A.L.!”
If you’re asked to think of a famous book illustrator then it’s very likely the first person that comes to mind is Quentin Blake. At 92 years old, he’s illustrated over 500 books including David Walliams, Beatrix Potter and of course his most well known collection for Roald Dahl.
Learners at RIS Hinckley were recently delivered a fantastic assembly on Quentin Blake by Higher Level Teaching Assistant, Claire Nulty. Claire introduced learners in both English and Art to the works of Quentin, before visiting a Quentin Blake exhibition at the Atkins Building in Hinckley.
They enjoyed Blake’s artwork, learned more about his life, designed book covers and did a great 1000 piece jigsaw together.
Claire said: “The learners learned all about Quentin’s career and how he collaborated with famous authors such as Roald Dahl. They had the chance to see some of Quentin Blake’s own work such as his illustrations in ‘Punch’ magazine.”
Learners also chose their favourite book covers from the displays and had a go at designing their own in the same style.
Claire said: “They particularly enjoyed being able to recognise books they have read and seeing them displayed. Learners had the chance to understand that art and literature can inspire each other, with great works of art inspiring works of literature and vice versa.”
We were delighted to take part in Positive Noticing Day this month, an initiative that encourages people to recognise and celebrate positive behaviour in others.
The day was organised by ‘When the Adults Change’, the same organisation that delivered an inspiring training session for staff at the beginning of the new school year. As part of the day, people wrote positive notes on labels or pieces of paper and handed them to someone else.
Laurie Akroyd, Senior Deputy Head at R.E.A.L. said: “The learners absolutely loved it! The original idea was that staff would hand out the tags discreetly to learners when they did something above and beyond the norm, however once the learners realised what was going on, they wanted to get involved too and also show off their tags!
“This meant that everybody, all learners and staff, ended up having at least one tag with a positive message on, which was lovely!”
Positive noticing is simple, practical, and highly effective. Being positively noticed by others builds self-esteem, supports conscientious behaviour and promotes good mental health. Why not try this at home to continue with the positive messages?
Year 10 and 11 learners at R.E.A.L’s Ilkeston site, were very lucky to receive a visit from a School Liaison Officer from Derby College.
On 1 and 2 October, Taylor Marcer-Mccann ran two sessions with the learners to introduce them to Derby College and what they can offer after school. Taylor explained in great detail the three main educational pathways the learners can choose from when they leave school – this includes full time academic programmes, full time vocational programmes and apprenticeships.
Taylor talked through the entry requirements needed for each of the pathways but also explained that there are other routes that they may take to get into college.
Beth Linney, Specialist Teaching Assistant at R.E.A.L. who organised the event said: “The learners engaged well with Taylor and were able to come up with some fabulous questions to ask her to expand their knowledge.”
After Taylor told the learners about the different courses they could enrol on, they took part in an ‘Emoji Quiz’.
Beth said: “Each of the courses Taylor mentioned had been transformed using emojis and they had to identify each one. The learners appeared to enjoy the sessions and have begun to think more about the future and what they may want to do when they eventually move on from us here at R.E.A.L.
“Taylor very kindly also invited some of our learners to visit some of their sites, depending on which courses they were interested in, so they could get a feel for what college is like. We look forward to booking these visits.”
Each learner also received a prospectus to take away, and more information on what Derby College has to offer.
We love learners to suggest ideas for activities to do at R.E.A.L., as it’s important to us young people feel they can have their say.
One learner recently pitched an idea to Jayne Barrell, Deputy Head at our Ilkeston site, to run a competition to create a scene using eggs. Jayne said: “I thought it was a great idea! He created the posters to advertise it and insisted that both learners and staff should be included.”
Learners and staff both joined in and made some egg-stremely good scenes, including a Barbie setting and Toy Story scene.
Jayne said: “I was given the honour of judging the entries which were all really creative. However, the winner for me was the brilliant ‘Eggsmen’ which was created by our Site Lead, Nicole. Well done to the learner for having such a fabulous idea. He will now be leading on ideas for future competitions that we hold!”
At R.E.AL. we work with students to collaboratively build learning opportunities, these include opportunities for creativity and collaboration and team work. We build community at R.E.A.L. by working together.
Learners across various R.E.A.L. sites have been exploring identity as part of the thematic curriculum for this term.
The theme has been studied in English, Science and Art lessons, with each exploration resulting in a creative piece of work.
In English, learners enjoyed making collages to explore their identity; whereby learners wrote about themselves and cut out images of some of their favourite things. Learners were also encouraged to keep a journal as part of work linked to the theme.
Maria Poyser, Site Lead Teacher at R.E.A.L. said: “The journal idea was for learners to express themselves in different ways. One of our learners finds art a great source of inspiration, her work is amazing and she painted this beautiful mountain portrait.”
Learners at our Concorde House site also created a huge piece of ‘doodle-style’ art work, that celebrates all of the individuals that create R.E.A.L.’s school community and contributes to our schools’ identity as a whole. This is a working piece of art and we will continue to add to it. The work will then be showcased within the Concorde House site for the rest of the year.
At our City Hub site, learners engaged in a STEM activity around identity and designed t-shirts and baseball caps. Some students created a design and stylised tag that meant something significant to them.
Maria added: “The learners really enjoyed expressing themselves in this way and loved having the opportunity to personalise the t-shirts and baseball caps. They are really embracing the identity theme.”
Learners at our Woodhouse Road site took part in a Macmillan coffee morning at the end of September and managed to raise an amazing total of £105.51!
The learners, who were from the KS3 Food Tech Group and Catering, put their cooking skills to the test and baked a variety of homemade goodies to sell, including apple cake, chorizo sausage rolls and cheese scones.
The successful bake-off means the money raised will go to the Macmillan charity, to help them continue to support people affected by cancer.
Learners on our Catering provision get to cook in a working kitchen environment, which allows them to develop their front of house skills alongside their cookery skills. If learning about the catering and hospitality industry is something that interests you, find out more about the provision at R.E.A.L. by emailing enquiries@real-education.org.
The role of a school governor is about making a difference that contributes to positively supporting young people’s futures.
We recently sat down with Sarah, who’s one of ten governors at R.E.A.L. and joined in 2020.
Sarah said: “Being a governor is a privilege, we get to see all the amazing things that happen at R.E.A.L. Independent Schools.”
Governors at R.E.A.L. offer support to the directors and school leadership team, including reviewing and evaluating data, supporting appointments and keeping up to date with regular training.
Sarah said: “We essentially act as a critical friend. We get information about the learners’ progress and successes, as well as the things they are finding difficult so we can ask questions that encourage the leaders to reflect on what they are doing, and identify how they could make it better.”
Sarah explained before she joined R.E.A.L. she was a senior leader in both a specialist and mainstream school, as well as being a staff governor in three schools too.
She said: “I have lots of experience of school leadership and meeting with governors, although from being on the other side and being questioned by them! Many of our governors have been or are governors for other schools, so we have a good understanding of how to offer the appropriate levels of support and how to challenge.
“At the last Ofsted inspection the inspector commented that we have a very experienced group of governors. Meeting with Ofsted gives us an opportunity to show how closely we follow the learners’ progress, whether that’s exam results, improved attendance or behaviour, or developing a new skill. We are all really proud to be part of the team that supports learners to achieve.
“We all believe that every child has a future, and seeing the successes that the learners achieve is heartwarming.”
The start of the new school year kicked off to a positive start, as all staff came together for two days of training.
The first day was hosted by ‘When The Adults Change, Everything Changes’ who delivered training on how adult behaviours and approaches can affect young people’s behaviour too. The training was held at the DoubleTree Hilton in Nottingham and also covered safeguarding updates and what schools should prioritise to improve.
Adrian O’Malley, Director of Education at R.E.A.L. said: “It was a really useful and thought provoking session. Staff laughed, staff cried and they left inspired, with many positive strategies to use with learners.”
The second training day was based on site at R.E.A.L. and featured a variety of curriculum-focused sessions, as well as planning and preparation for the term ahead.
Adrian said: “We’re passionate about supporting our learners, so it’s important to us that our staff are still learning too and these training days were an insightful and motivational start to a new school year.”
