Positive Handling Training Boarding School Programme

“I thoroughly enjoyed the course (and wasn’t particularly enthused about doing the course before hand).  I didn’t realise how in depth and useful it was! Gerard was a first class trainer, was highly professional and delivered an excellent training program – would thoroughly recommend him! Thanks Gerard for making our morning so interesting!”

Senior Housemistress – Boarding School, East Sussex, September 2016

Dynamis provides a range of training courses for the whole spectrum of educational settings, including for boarding schools (both mainstream and those who cater for SEN). Recognising the different types of scenario which face pastoral teams, we have been engaged by the Head of Boarding, the Master In Charge of Boarding and the Pastoral Head in many schools to provide training for their staff (Housemaster, Housemistress, Gap Assistants and others).   Our programme includes key information about how to create environments which are not compatible with resistance, non-cooperation and intimidating or even violent behaviour amongst the children in a boarding environment.

We specifically talk about Gateway Behaviours and how these can lead to increasing levels of disruption and non-cooperation in a Boarding context if they are not managed effectively from the beginning.  Staff can be trained in approaches which gently and respectfully challenge these precursor behaviours through verbalisation skills which encourage collaboration, cooperation or even compliance.  We use a model of communication which fosters deep listening, empathy, influence and persuasion which creates a boarding environment which treats every person with dignity and treats them with respect, even in the most challenging of circumstances which might arise.

Example Scenarios for Positive Handling Training Boarding

Another example of our Positive Handling Training Boarding training is where a boarding school with mainly young men in their roster will have particular issues around the exuberance of youth in hierarchical peer environments.  For instance, fights between young men can break out which may require a positive handling approach.  Our Positive Handling Training Program for Boarding specifically addresses a model of those engagements which helps staff to make good decisions about what kind of fight they might come across and then, having identified it, make a good decision about how to deal with it professionally.

A common example in boarding is where children refuse to move from one place to another in an emergency situation (such as during a fire drill) or are causing a disruption through some physical outburst which could cause another person (or the pupil themselves) some kind of harm.

Gerard O’Dea provides tailored Positive Handling and Classroom Conflict training courses for schools and education services providers around the UK, so that children and staff are treated with dignity and shown respect, even in their most difficult moments.  Combining respectful verbalisation skills with last-resort physical alternatives has been his specialty for over ten years as director of training for Dynamis [ www.positivehandling.co.uk ]

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