Participant Feedback Pilot 1

Schools Pilot 2022 Windsor and Maidenhead Teams

Aims of the Pilot

To pilot the Loving your Dragons curriculum in year 5 of primary school for age appropriateness, effectiveness of the lesson plans and impact on resilience and wellbeing.

Key Statistics

6 schools (2 SEN 4 Mainstream)

8 Trainers

8 sessions

177 pupils reached

Summary outcomes

Following the year 5 pilot all schools expressed an interest in further training to expand the Dragons throughout the school.

Loving Your Dragons 5 Modules

Loving your Dragons

Introducing the Dragons

5 Modules

5 PowerPoints

10 lesson plans

Feeding Green Dragon

30 Worksheets

Getting to know Blue Dragon

Numerous extension activities

Saying Hello to Red Dragon

Tracking your Dragons

Special needs school

Number of classes: 1

Pupils involved in the pilot: 9

Number of sessions delivered:8

Trainer: Katherine Radcliffe

Teacher engagement high.

Katherine

MHST

“The pupils were very Excited by the idea of the Dragons and loved the Coloring and playdough at the end.”

Radcliffe

Quote from Teacher

•

“I thought they understood the dragons really well! We have talked about them and talked about characters in books and which dragon is with them too. L. said he mostly has his blue dragon- which I think is probably true! R said he quite likes his red dragon- which I think is true too. He also said his blue dragon is with him when he wins at tummy ache!! N said his dragons were private - which is fair enough. A was really good at noticing other people and characters dragons. They have all been talking about them.

• I think it is a great thing for them to be doing.”

•

Philippa Evans

Teacher resources

“Once upon a time there was a pirate who liked sailing his little boat across the deep, blue sea.

On his boat he kept three dragons, one was blue and was called Barnaby , one was green called Gabby and one was red called Ruby. “

Story written by Philippa Evans

Quote from Teaching Assistant

“I think that using the dragons to express feelings and emotions is super helpful! When asked what each dragon represented, they said things like the following: blue dragon means you’re ready to work and be focused, green dragon means that you are feeling good, happy, excited, and reg dragon means feelings like sadness, anger, or tiredness. I think that using these dragons as a way to talk about how the students and others are feeling allows for them to relate and understand their individual needs

Wessex Primary School

Mainstream school

Number of classes: 2

Pupils involved in the pilot: 60

Number of sessions delivered: 9

Trainer: Emma Prince

Teacher engagement high

Pupil experiences

“One YP asked his Red Dragon, 'do you have ADHD or autism and do you need something?”

"One child stated that they have started saying 'red sonic' or 'green sonic' when they are feeling sad or happy at home.”

"The children reported that they felt like red dragon came over them when they knew they would no longer be having any further WCIYD sessions. We spoke about endings and how to use learnings going forward.”

Emma Prince MHST

Pupil quote

Teachable moments

“The teacher discussed about how there were lots of red dragon moments this week, so we had a reminder about how to get green and it suited nicely for the 'two red dragons can't solve a problem” lesson.

Emma Prince MHST

Woodlands Park School

1 class of 30 pupils

Mixed year 4/5

Number of sessions: 8

Trainers: Lucy Patterson and Bonne Brittle

Teacher engagement low

Woodlands Park School

Some confusion over Blue Dragon

As school uses Zones of Regulation

Some behavior issues which were Not managed by the teacher

Pupil Quotes

“ I like Blue Dragon best !”

“I have learned what to do when two Red Dragons are fighting”

Case study

“In my class there were three refugee children who had just arrived at the school and didn’t speak any English we managed to get them communicating about their wellbeing with each other and to understand each others well being using the Dragon colours.

I watched one girl in particular change from not wanting to participate in anything, to sharing a few words then talking about favourite things using the Dragon colours and images. She went from very closed down, to being smiley and happy in the final session. “

Lucy Patterson MHST

Wraysbury Primary School

2 classes of 20 pupils

Year 5

Number of sessions: 7

Trainers: Dunette Griffiths

Teacher engagement low

Creative Activities

‘The pupils enjoyed the creative activities, and have created a Dragon's corner in each class”

Exploring Slogans

“ Pupils enjoyed the Hand on Heart exercise, but found it difficult to speak kindly to Red Dragon”

Pupil Feedback

• Enjoyed

• Talking about Dragons, and the creative activities

• Pupil suggestions

•

More creative activities, shorter sessions, more games, more moving around (possibly outside)

Facilitator Feedback

“ One child couldn't talk about emotions; it made her feel uncomfortable. The Dragons gave made it possible for her to access talking about emotions through the Dragons and that was nice to see “

Dunette Griffiths MHST

Larchfield Primary School

1 class of 27 pupils

Year 5

Number of sessions: 8

Trainers: Bahara Fourgh Teacher engagement low

Use of props

“Using a real backpack with the 3C’s for the Dragon Code each week worked really well. “

“After half term we did a weekly dragon diary, pupils enjoyed this, and many were able to reflect and recognize which days were blue (chores at home) or red (arguments with siblings) instead of all green”

Bahara Fourgh MHST

Littledown Primary School

1 class of 3-4 pupils

SEN school (pupils with complex needs)

Year 5

Number of sessions: 8

Trainers: Charlotte Morton & Annetta

Walkowska

Teacher engagement high

Littledown Primary School

Being inclusive

“We allowed one pupil to Make a black dragon as he wasn’t ready to say hello to Green Dragon”

Annetta Walkowska MHST

Staff wellbeing

“We wondered whether it would be helpful to have a Green Dragon session for teachers as they are working so hard to stay blue and green during the day supporting children with complex needs.”

Annetta Walkowska MHST

Classroom displays

“We we pleased to see a display board in the classroom with some of the slogans and the pupil’s Dragons displayed”

Charlotte Morton MHST

Movement helps self regulation

“After a very chaotic start to the lesson , we decided to do some movements to the Jungle book song, everyone joined in and did 5 mins of dancing

.Afterwards one of the pupils said, “My Red Dragon is gone!”

Charlotte Morton MHST

Top Reds for Facilitators

•

Not feeling the buy-in or engagement of the teaching staff

•

Lack of support from staff in managing behaviour

•

Chaos & physical violence in the SEN school

Top Greens for Facilitators

• Doing movements to Jungle book song

•

• Seeing the pupils' faces being happy being free and easy not having any pressure.

• Flexibility of the resources - being able to choose activates to suit the class.

• Giving a shared language to pupils with no English

• A boy with ADHD realizing that he is mute when Red Dragon is here.

Other learnings

• Its all about the relationship! School engagement

• Adaptations in SEN schools

• Safeguarding: Dragons helps to identify safeguarding issues

• Mainstream adaptations – some lesson plans will be changed

• Classroom delivery competencies are an important factor

• Mindfulness experience of facilitators

• Parent reds - parent sessions are important to dispel misunderstandings and support use at home.