The Highfield Resilience Potential Tracker

1. The Highfield Resilience Potential Tracker Resilience is a universal human capacity to face, overcome and even be strengthened by experiences of adversity. (Grotberg, E. 1998)

2. What behaviours of children who are not resilient when dealing with challenges? Think about children in your setting What behaviours indicate that a child is less able than their peers to manage everyday challenges?

3. What makes us resilient? Discuss ? i-reslience

4. What is resilience We are born with the capacity for resilience but it is not something that you have or do not have and our capacity to be resilient changes over time. Resilience develops as you grow up and gain better thinking and self-management skills and gain more knowledge. Resilience also comes from supportive caring relationships with parents, carers, family, friends, practitioners as well as cultural beliefs and traditions that help people cope with the inevitable bumps in life.

5. Grotbergon resilience: Edith Grotberg defines resilience as a `universal capacity which allows a person, group or community to prevent, minimize or overcome the damaging effects of adversity'.

6. Aim of the project: The objective was to improve opportunities for young children living in disadvantaged circumstances.

7. The research approach… Our approach means that we do not perceive disadvantage as a problem to be solved or compensated for; instead, we try to look for the strengths that exist within individuals and their environments in order to build upon them. Rather than examining `failures', we want to understand why some people and communities survive and thrive against all odds so that we can learn lessons that can be shared with others.

8. Diminishing differences Research has found that most parents and care givers do not know about resilience or how to promote it in children. How parents and other caregivers respond to situations, and how they help a child to respond, separates those adults who promote resilience in their children from those who destroy resilience or send confusing messages that both promote and inhibit resilience

9. I AM The tree of resilience I CAN I HAVE

10. I CAN I HAVE I AM Seek trusting relationships Role models Autonomous and responsible Trusting relationships Lovable and my temperament is appealing Communicate Structure and rules at home Problem solve Encouragement to be autonomous Loving, empathic, and altruistic Manage my feelings and impulses Access to health, education, welfare, and security services Proud of myself Gauge the temperament of myself and others Filled with hope, faith, and trust

11. Findings: every country in the study is drawing on a common set of resilience factors to promote resilience in their children. Adults and older children use more resilience promoting supports, inner strengths and interpersonal skills than younger children in promoting resilience in the children. Overall, less than half the respondents are using resilience promoting behaviour and even those respondents vary individually in use of the factors, largely depending on the situation. Socio-economic level contributed very little to variations in responses.

12. FINDINGS : A resilient child does not need all of these features to be resilient, but one is not enough. A child may be loved (I HAVE), but if he or she has no inner strength (I AM) or social, interpersonal skills (I CAN), there can be no resilience. A child may have a great deal of self-esteem (I AM), but if he or she does not know how to communicate with others or solve problems (I CAN), and has no one to help him or her (I HAVE), the child is not resilient. A child may be very verbal and speak well (I CAN), but if he or she has no empathy (I AM) or does not learn from role models (I HAVE), there is no re. 38% of respondents did into promote resilience This is not the situation necessarily out of intent; it is more the fact that people do not know about resilience or how to promote it in children . Resilience results from a combination of these features.

13. The resilient child can confidently say I Have People around me I trust and who love me, no matter what People who set limits for me so I know when to stop before there is danger or trouble People who show me how to do things right by the way they do them People who want me to learn to do things on my own People who help me when I am sick, in danger or need to learn.

14. I HAVE The I HAVE factors are the external supports and resources that promote resilience. Before the child is aware of who she is (I AM) or what she can do (I CAN), she needs external supports and resources to develop the feelings of safety and security that are the basis for developing resilience.

15. I CAN Factors The I CAN factors are the child’s social and interpersonal skills. Children learn these skills by interacting with others and from those who teach them.

16. The resilient child says I CAN Talk to others about things that frighten me or bother me Find ways to solve problems that I face Control myself when I feel like doing something not right or dangerous Figure out when it is a good time to talk to someone or to take action Find someone to help me when I need it

17. The resilient child says I AM A person people can like and love Glad to do nice things for others and show my concern Respectful of myself and others Willing to be responsible for what I do Sure that things will be alright. The child is filled with hope, faith and trust

18. I AM Factors The I AM factors are the child’s internal, personal strengths. These are feelings, attitudes and beliefs within the child.

19. Why? When our three year olds are teenagers and offered drugs, alcohol, cigarettes… will they be able to Tell you about it, ask your advice (I Have) Know the right thing to do (I Am) Be able to say no, despite peer pressure (I Can)

20. Why we track resilience? Fill the gap, the trackers allow us to fill in gaps in children's resilience and therefore their learning. EYFS assessments did not give the whole picture of the child. After each assessment meeting – we still needed to talk about some children. Developed in 2012 after a staff meeting based on Edith Grotberg’s research on resilience. The tracker will enable you to record and assess those intangible parts of the child that are discussed with colleagues in professional discussions

21. The Tracker It was clear that Grotberg’s criteria for looking at resilience would help to see the ‘whole child’. BUT – How to record this in a way that was Fit for purpose Practical Useful Easy to use When we have an ever increasing amount of paperwork – we do not want to add to the burden

22. The Tracker

23. The Tracker Designed to be reviewed termly – October, February, July Remember – children can go up as well as down in their rating as family circumstances change throughout the year.

24. How to… Three weeks of observations when the child starts in your setting First column – name, protected characteristics Next three columns filled in red, amber or green. Where green is for a child who is like ‘a fish in water’ and red is a significant cause for concern. Final column is your action plan – this would depend on each child’s need. E.G (DJ-T)

25. On Entry

26. Case study-L I Have: Parents very supporting, loving and nurturing. Did everything for him. I Can: Speech so poor, could not communicate with peers. Staff found it extremely difficult to understand, unless in context. Often frustrated, aggressive, controlling, demanding I Am: Ego centric, could not share resources or staff with others, could not see others point of view. Not able to self regulate, no growth mindset Where would you put L on a resilience tracker? 10 mins – discuss

27. How did we develop resilience in L? Building a supportive, caring relationship with parents Ensuring L felt safe, secure, listened to and accepted Offering positive role models for L Co-regulating and verbalising L’s feelings Growth mind set ethos Encouraging ‘I Can’ attitude to challenges Key person and other staff gave L the time he needed

28. Think of a child Think of a child in your setting Discuss Plot on the On Entry tracker What support would you put in place for this child

29. Contact lil.newton@highfield.suffolk.sch.uk ruth.coleman@highfield.suffolk.sch.uk Highfield Nursery School Chesterfield Drive Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 6DW Tel: 01473 742534