THE HAPPY TEACHER PROGRAMME

The Happy Teacher Programme is here to support you as a school leader with reducing stress and burnout throughout your teaching team, lowering absence and sickness and the related impact on school budgets. It will ensure a happy, energised staff team who can perform their role effectively and support the children, the SLT and each other to the best of their ability.

All of this without the full responsibility for this falling solely on your own, already burdened shoulders, and with an emphasis on personalised, individual support.

WHAT MAKES A HAPPY TEACHER

  • Can get all their planning done and still enjoy quality time with their family. They are relaxed in school and not resentful of the time they must spend working.

  • Has the capacity (both logistically & energetically) to support the SLT in implementing their vision for the school, so it can move forward smoothly without resistance from the staff.

  • Is flexible enough to embrace change & positive about supporting others in its implementation. All staff feel that they have someone that they can turn to.

  • Has both the energy and desire to go ‘above and beyond.’ More time and effort are put into making learning exciting and stimulating for the children.

  • Is as energised at the end of term as they were at the start. Lessons don’t drop off, behaviour incidents remain low, and staff don’t make mistakes.

  • Is well enough to be at work and do their job to capacity. Supply costs are significantly reduced and teaching becomes more consistent.

  • Has healthy relationships with their colleagues, pupils and parents. The school becomes more harmonious with staff having time to check in on each other.

  • Can role model positive behaviours and a growth mindset (to both the children and their colleagues!).

  • Looks forward to Monday mornings and spreads this positivity to their colleagues.

Teaching is a vocation, a lifestyle and a privilege with many rewards, but in 2024 teachers and school leaders are under more pressure than they have ever been. Shrinking budgets, increased pressures around children’s behaviour and SEND provision alongside increasing parental expectations mean schools are trying to deliver even more opportunities for students with fewer staff and less money. We know the teaching industry is facing a crisis of retention and staff absence due to the increased pressures teachers are under. At the same time, issues in the post-Covid healthcare arena mean that many staff are also trying to deal with delays in treating their health conditions or of those in their family, leading to more stress at home and deteriorating physical and emotional wellbeing. As a school leader, you are dealing with the responsibility of supporting all of your staff through this, but also experiencing many of the same pressures yourself.

 

The Happy Teacher Programme has been created based on feedback from current head teachers and teachers themselves so that it is a usable and effective programme to improve teacher wellbeing and resilience.

This programme gives teachers and school leaders actionable strategies and tools to manage the challenges of their jobs alongside the competing pressures of family life.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU

The Problem

Your door is ‘always open’

You spend hours every week supporting your staff with their problems.

Previous attempts haven’t worked

You’ve put wellbeing strategies in place already; maybe you’ve signed up to the National College or similar employee assistance programmes, arranged wellbeing training for staff on Inset days, made the school a nice place to work, offered numerous staff benefits and have counselling services you can sign-post staff to if things get really bad – so why are some of your staff still struggling?

THE HAPPY TEACHER PROGRAMME

The Solution

What you and your staff really need is not just the ‘theory’ of wellbeing but realistic, practical and actionable steps that are tailored specifically to the world of teaching and its pressures. Steps that can still be easily put into place even when you are off timetable during the pre-Christmas frenzy or in the run up to assessment time or when Ofsted are due to descend. Online wellbeing content can play a key role in supporting staff, but it is not enough by itself. It needs to come with access to one-to-one support, so staff understand how to put the theory into action and feel that they are truly being heard and listened to. Leading a school is a tough, and often lonely job, and you deserve someone to talk things through and support you with your own wellbeing needs to be at the heart of this too.

Teaching can sometimes feel like a very isolated profession and what your teachers need is more human connection that truly listens and understands their point of view.

This is where the Happy Teacher Programme comes in.

Staff have access to resources and support that have been specifically created to address the pressures they have told me they are under and at the specific times they need them. There are also resources that you as a school can put into place straight away to start building up staff wellbeing through daily mindfulness and stress resilience exercises. No longer will you need to spend your lunchtimes and after school time being that listening ear that staff need, meaning you then must spend your own precious family time ‘catching up’ on your own work.

*This is a free call to explore which wellbeing provisions you have in place currently as a school to support your staff with stress management so they can stay well, avoid burn out and unnecessary absence. We will audit what you already have in place and how to ensure it is having the impact for staff that you are paying for.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

THE GOLD PACKAGE

For ALL staff in your school

  • To gather feedback on where your staff feel they are at with their wellbeing. Anonymised data will then be shared with you in a one-off report and used by me to personalise content for the programme. Questionnaire to be repeated at the end of the year to track progress across the school.

  • Subjects will include: ‘How to cope with back to school anxiety’, ‘Dealing with a difficult parent’, ‘Understanding how stress affects you’, ‘How to switch off from work when you are at home’ “How to work more efficiently and save yourself time” and much more. They can dip into these when the need arises or, you can schedule viewing into your time with them if a particular need arises.

  • Via Zoom or Teams, with other staff from schools also signed up to the programme, to explore and share strategies for dealing with common wellbeing ‘pinch points’ such as the pre-Christmas period, cold and flu season, assessment time etc.

  • Support to train one or two ‘Stress Buster Champions’ in school and to set up a daily ‘Stress-busters Club’ for staff, if there is demand, with a bank of short, daily exercises to share and practise together. This could be your pastoral lead, a specific teacher with an interest in wellbeing, a member of your support staff or even yourself. I will support your Stressbuster Champion(s) to understand exactly how stress is impacting on your staff, your school and your community and support them to put simple measures in place to support staff, encouraging them to engage with the other aspects of the programme and/or my one-to-one support.

  • Regular email to all staff to offer motivation, positive mindset support and prompt them to think differently about challenges they may be facing throughout the academic year.

  • Six hours per academic year of bespoke coaching support for your school, either in-person or virtually, to tackle a specific need that your staff have around wellbeing or stress-resilience. This could be for a whole staff team as part of a training day or a smaller group facing a common challenge.

THE PLATINUM PACKAGE

EVERYTHING in the Gold Package, plus

  • Access for staff to receive one to one coaching with me (up to either 12, 36 or 90 1-hour sessions per school per academic year) paid for by the school. This can be in-person or virtual and arranged to meet the needs of both the staff member and the school (before school breakfast sessions, end of the school day, during their PPA time or as cover is available). This could also be used to offer supervision sessions to your DSLs.

  • Access for the Head teacher or Principal to receive up to six hours per term of one-to-one support for themselves and also arranged flexibly to meet their needs.

BONUSES

Included for all staff members

Discounted access to my virtual masterclasses and short courses such as the ‘Sleep Mastery’ 6-week course and the ‘Stress Less’ 8-week course.

Free access to my monthly virtual mindfulness club and past recordings.

Discounts on in-person and virtual holistic wellbeing treatments I offer as a therapist (Reiki, Indian Head Massage, Holistic Facials, One to One Mindfulness).

Discounts on one-to-one coaching packages with me (offered in blocks of six sessions) that staff pay for themselves.

YOUR INVESTMENT

All prices are per annum and subject to the number of staff in your school. Bespoke quotes are available on request for Trusts and Federations with multiple schools.

GOLD PACKAGE

No one-to-one coaching

No. of Staff

1-15

16-30

31-50

51-75

76-100

Price

£750

£1350

£1950

£2550

£3000

PLATINUM PACKAGE

12 x coaching sessions for staff & 10 x coaching session for head teacher*

No. of Staff

1-15

16-30

31-50

51-75

76-100

Price

£2400

£3000

£3600

£4200

£4650

*I can also provide you with 36 or 90 one-to-one coaching sessions per annum. Please get in touch for prices.

This small investment in your staff will save the school money by reducing staff absence and the need therefore for costly supply cover.

Just 6.5 days of absence saved pays for your investment in this programme for a medium sized primary school.

You will also save countless hours of your own time and energy as you will have the confidence to know that your staff wellbeing responsibilities are well and truly covered, without being merely a tick box exercise. Extra support for your staff is needed now, more than ever, as further cutbacks in your overall staff budget for this September heap even more pressure on those you still have. By investing a small amount now in this programme, you can be sure they will have strong support to lean on as they navigate yet another challenging year of cuts and shortages and will be being pro-active in mitigating for wellbeing issues rather than having to constantly react and firefight as problems come up.

WILL MY STAFF ENGAGE WITH SUCH A PROGRAMME?

There will always be some staff who are more enthusiastic about this sort of thing than others and I have worked with many people who have been apprehensive about trying out the techniques, but I have found that those who engage always see the benefits. I can support you to encourage staff to engage to ensure they get the maximum benefit out of this support.

For example, I can share with you a sample of the ways in which I work that you can disseminate to staff to show them how engaging with the programme can help them at work and at home. The regular email content means staff are constantly reminded of the messages of the programme and directed to further video content if they need further support in this area. They are pro-actively encouraged to engage on a near daily basis, rather than being expected to recognise there is an issue, identify what help they need and then go and find the content they need to support them by themselves.  

By working directly with your nominated ‘Stress-buster Champion’ I can ensure that there is always a positive presence within your setting to encourage staff to engage with sessions and content on an on-going basis. This has worked well in a Primary school already, where I have supported a private client to share the tools, she has learnt one-to-one with me with her colleagues and start her own daily ‘Stress-busters Club’ in her junior school.

Here is some feedback I’ve recently received from her that you may wish to share with your own staff.

“I was at a point last year where I felt that something had to give. I was fed up, stressed out, anxious and really negative. I felt I was just at the bottom of a hole. Not enough to see a doctor about but just someone who could work with me and support me. I trust Caroline implicitly. She doesn’t judge you or make you feel silly. In most cases she can relate to you and understand what you are dealing with. ”

— Kirsty (Key Stage 2 Teacher)

“The sessions are well planned. She doesn’t tell you the answer but helps you to realise solutions for yourself. I have had many lightbulb moments. I really look forward to the sessions. The sessions have helped me to appraise things. They’ve helped me to take a step back and respond to things rather than react. I’ve looked at time management, dealing with overwhelm, stress and negative thinking. I have been given lots of tools to support me and at the root of it all - mindfulness. The sessions make you accountable particularly when you are set targets to work on each session. You don’t feel judged, but you feel you’re not alone. ”

— Kirsty (Key Stage 2 Teacher)

“Although I still feel stressed, I am learning ways to deal with it, and I am also improving my wellbeing by talking about things as it helps me understand why I feel like I do. I am being more open with my husband about what I need. I’ve learnt how to set myself targets that are achievable. I’ve realised how important it is to take time for myself without feeling guilty about it - I’m trying to implement yoga, pilates and reiki into my life as part of this. If I hadn’t started these sessions with Caroline, I think I would be heading for burnout and misery. It’s still very stressful and hectic but I am developing strategies for dealing with it.”

— Kirsty (Key Stage 2 Teacher)

WHY CHOOSE ME?

  • Number 1 in a yellow shape

    I have the qualifications and experience, so you know the advice and techniques I am sharing are effective and safe.

  • Number 2 in a blue shape

    I am very close to the teaching profession (I am married to a primary head teacher and have many teachers amongst my friends and family) so I have a good understanding of the unique challenges faced by those in the profession, both in terms of the practical challenges and the inner conflict of balancing your call in life with health and happiness.

  • Number 3 in a yellow shape

    I have used the techniques I share with juggling life’s challenges; as a person with a disability myself, a former single parent, mum of teenagers/young adults and daughter of unpaid family carers. There are very few of your staff that I won’t be able to relate to, and empathise with, on a personal level as they navigate their own struggles.

  • Number 4 in a blue shape

    My philosophy and mission is based around showing others how to put their own wellbeing at the top of their to-do-list, meaning that actually they are better placed to care for those around them – think of the instruction when you are on an aeroplane to put your own oxygen mask on in case of an emergency before assisting others to do the same.

  • Number 5 in a yellow shape

    My approach is practical, actionable, and effective. I don’t just teach the theory of wellbeing and then leave people to figure out what that means for them in their own lives.

  • Number 6 in a blue shape

    I understand the limitations of a busy schedule and so I am all about simple, actionable steps that can easily be fitted in to even the busiest days; without requiring any extra time or energy when you are already at the max. Prevention first whenever possible but established positive psychology strategies to call upon if you are already beyond this point.

ARE YOU READY TO MAKE A CHANGE?

If you are interested in working with me to help make your teachers happy, please book in for a free call to explore which wellbeing provisions you have in place currently as a school to support your staff with stress management so they can stay well, avoid burn out and unnecessary absence.