The Government's announcement today (Friday 6 July) of an extra £13.7 million for lessons in respect, good behaviour and self-awareness has been welcomed by Cumbria County Council, one of only six authorities in the country that has been piloting the scheme in secondary schools.
Called SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning), the scheme is aimed at enabling children to have a better understanding of themselves and others, to cope better with their feelings, and to develop their social skills. It has been shown to lead to improved behaviour, higher attainment and better attendance at school.
The scheme is already in 60% of primary schools across the country.
The secondary school SEAL scheme will build on this success and will be rolled out across the country from this September.
The Government wants pupils in all primary and secondary schools to be part of the scheme by 2011.
Mark Toomey is Cumbria County Council's Principal Education Psychologist and heads up SEAL for the authority. He said:
"Cumbria has a lot to be proud of, as one of only six pilots that has been involved in developing SEAL for secondary schools.
"We were also a pilot for primary schools, and their enthusiastic take up means that we expect to have supported over 90% of Cumbria's primaries with SEAL by 2008, which is comfortably above the national target.
"The invitation to joint the secondary school SEAL pilot was seen as a real opportunity to build on the work of the primary schools. Again, the response was encouraging when schools were invited to bid - whilst some local authorities struggled to persuade schools to be involved, 24 of our schools applied for only ten pilot places.
"Along with the schools we developed many of our own materials and when the secondary pilot came to an end in March, we were delighted that three schools in Cumbria had been chosen as case studies on the national website.
"The news that this work is now going to be rolled out nationally is very exciting. Here in Cumbria eight secondary schools will be funded to take this forward in 2007/08. We hope that the extra resources being made available will encourage others to become involved in developing these important skills in our young people."
ENDS
Further information from Alison Lister, media team on 01228 606335