SEL Action Plan

 THE GOAL is to integrate social and emotional learning into

• all activities, working relationships and interactions
• the school's acknowledged curriculum 
• all teaching and learning experiences
• all aspects of the life and work of the school, and
• its engagement with its families and community
  

INTENDED OUTCOMES

• Success and well-being for all, now and in the future
• The school as a rich, strong purposeful and supportive community in its own right

But where to start and what do next? The following suggestions, roughly in order for consideration, may be helpful.

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       SEL ACTION PLAN 

A.   School Governance Group (including the Principal)

1. Engage with, and participate in, the task by providing explicit oversight and leadership
    - develop shared school-wide expectations
    - make data readily available to decision makers
    - promote and endorse good practices
    - develop systems to enable the schools goals to be achieved easily and wellSound and sustained governance is critical
   
   
2. Identify one or two 'coordinators' and a small working group of interested staff (and perhaps students and parents) to take the initiative in this area.
   Note.  Such a group may already exist!! For example the school may have one or more leadership teams in areas such as behaviour management, PBS, student welfare...
   
   
3. Provide resources and support for the working group including
    - endorsement for their work
    - encouragement
    - tools
    - and opportunities to collaborate
   
4. Monitor needs and progress and advise with the working group
   
   
5. Keep staff, students and the school community informed of purposes, progress and achievements

B.  The SEL Working Group - based on a Solution Focus approach*

1. Reach a shared understanding about social and emotional learning in our school
   (a) What brought us here?
   (b) What SEL could mean in our school, that is, explore the material provided (see links in the sidebar) on:
     - Social and emotional learning - an introduction
     - Thinking and expectations
     - Emotional Literacy 
     - Social Skills
     - Habits of Mind
     - Pedagogies for SEL
     - Restorative Practices
   
   
2. Consider the ideal SEL school
   Imagine what the school would be like and how it would being operating if the SEL provision was ideal
    - How would you rate the school's current SEL provision on a scale of 1 to 10
    
3. If this ideal was achieved (10/10)
    - What differences would we notice in what we do and how we do it?
   
   
4. Review the current situation
    - What things are working well?  Arrange to continue to maintain and do more of these.
    - What things are working but could be improved? - Consider what can be done about these items.
   
   
5. Next steps
     - What might be worth considering in order to raise the SEL provision by one or two rating points (see2 above)?
     - How might we do these things easily and well?
     - What resources do we have at hand
   
   
6. Do it
   - Learn from the difficulties encountered, celebrate and continuously improve on what is achieved
    (a) Plan your next steps: who will do what, why, when, how, how you will know the outcomes...
    (b) Do it
    (c) With the help of the stakeholders, study your actions and the outcomes achieved, the constraints encountered...
     (d) Act to improve on what you have achieved - go to 1.

[* Various other school improvement strategies may be more appropriate depending in the history and experience of your school and its people.]