Being More ‘Heather Small’

What have you done today to make you feel proud?

Fans of Heather Small and Miranda will know this question and it’s well worth asking yourself, your staff and your children.

There are lots of things in any given day that you can say you are proud of but perhaps we don’t always acknowledge them or get a chance to share with others.

The next time you have a staff meeting then take the opportunity to build-in some proud moments and ask for colleagues to share with they are proud of. These don’t have to be outstanding ‘pinnacle’ achievements – big and small are welcome. They can be work related or more personal. If you are proud of something then you need to share it!

Sharing what makes us proud can feed into the well-being of our collective conscience as a staff and make us proud of each other. If you want to get into a huddle and hold hands whilst you are sharing then why not, it’ll be good for the soul!

Being proud of your school is important and feeding this into everyday conversations is important to reinforce the school’s identity and for nourishing a confident community. That’s why we should extend the ‘Heather Small’ idea into our classrooms so that children can share their ‘proud as a peacock’ experiences with each other too.

Children can think about their accomplishments in and out of school and these don’t need to be dramatic or full of fireworks. Take a look at the examples given here by Steve Waller to illustrate the sort of ‘simple’ moments that we can all be proud of.

Some say that showing pride is nothing to be proud of but sharing what we are proud of isn’t showing off or being big-headed, it’s about being honest, humble and inspiring. It’s about respecting ourselves, respecting others and also have a laugh!