Jolly Jungle
Jolly Jungle Information booklet
Our Belief
As a church school, we believe that to love God is to love our neighbour.
To love our neighbour is to have God within us.
If God is within us, we shall be good neighbours and shall show God’s love to the world.
At Deanery, we seek to reflect the Christian understanding that all people are people of God and, as such, are precious.
Therefore, emphasis is placed upon the best whole education that can be provided, developing each child’s individual talents within a caring, happy and disciplined environment, where co-operation, mutual respect and responsibility are encouraged.
Why do we have a Jolly Jungle?
Whilst we seek to support all children in developing their emotional intelligence, we recognise that many children, at different times in their school lives, experience difficulties in coping with some of the pressures and situations in which they find themselves. This may be the result of challenges facing them with their school work, relationships with their peers, or difficulties arising at home (family illness, bereavement, job loss, relationship issues etc.). Often these difficulties may be short lived but can have a long term effect upon children’s self-esteem or attitudes to school. We cover work in class to support children in our Personal, Social and Health Education (PHSE) lessons and during ‘Circle Time’, using the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL programme), but sometimes this is not always enough.
Many children have difficulty expressing how they feel and keep their problems to themselves. Occasionally, parents face tremendous challenges in their own lives and this can also impact upon their children. There is sufficient evidence, from research into children’s development, to indicate that at such times, young people benefit from the support of a trained individual, who has a key responsibility to ensure that the children are listened to, helped to work through difficulties and given the confidence to find solutions to their problems.
What is ‘emotional intelligence’ and why is it important?
At Deanery, we are always seeking to ensure that every child has the best opportunity to benefit from the education we offer. The importance of ‘emotional intelligence’ as a factor in successful lives is something that has become clearer to those engaged in research about learning. There is much research showing that ‘emotional intelligence’ is even more important than IQ for success in adult life and, therefore, should be developed in childhood. Broadly speaking ‘emotional intelligence’ is the ability to relate to and understand others, to understand and be able to express feelings and to have a high level of self-insight and self-acceptance.
What is Jolly Jungle?
Jolly Jungle is a ‘safe’ environment where children have the opportunity to:
- express their feelings, fears and worries
- identify and recognise their own strengths and talents
- work out solutions for themselves
Who looks after Jolly Jungle?
Mrs Johansen heads up the Jolly Jungle team and along with Mrs Griffiths and Miss Morris will see children for a 6 week mentoring block. The mentoring programme will be goal driven and we will work with each child to set their own goals and work on strategies to achieve them.
We will allocate a member of staff to each child depending on expertise and background.
Where is Jolly Jungle?
Jolly Jungle has its own dedicated room. It’s ‘child friendly’, being both beautifully decorated and furnished. Its atmosphere is very calm and welcoming and children love to go to it.
We are very proud of the work that Jolly Jungle has undertaken over the last ten years and, from our evidence, know that it has helped many children, and indeed parents.
If you would like to know more about Jolly Jungle, please see our ‘Welcome to Jolly Jungle’ leaflet
For a Referral Form, please see Jolly Jungle Referral Form or a class teacher. Please email completed forms to jollyjungle@deanery.bham.sch.uk.
If you wish to discuss anything further, please contact the team via jollyjungle@deanery.bham.sch.ukand one of the team will get back to you.
