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Educare Small School
A remarkable
school in Kingston, Surrey where the Alexander Technique is
a part of every school day. Sue Merry is lucky enough
to work there
(first published in Statnews, May 2007).
The Beginning
In 1994,
quite unexpectedly, I was invited into a local state primary
school to tell the infant school teachers what they could
say to the children in order to get them to “sit up
straight”. Of course I had no intention of doing any such
thing. But what was I going to do?
I brought
this whole situation upon myself by unwisely shooting off my
mouth to the head teacher. She was a pupil of mine at the
time and had asked if the Alexander Technique could be
applied to children. I confidently blasted on about how
there were lots of ways of applying the principles to
children – as if I knew anything about it! And yes, sure I
would be happy to come along and talk to teaching staff
about all the things that they could say to the kids – sure
I would. Just give me a call. Well, she did. And I was in
deep trouble. I had never worked with children in any
capacity at all and had absolutely no idea how the Technique
might apply to a huge primary school that was already
stretched to the limit. Worse still, although I read
everything in print on the subject, not one thing was of any
practical use at all. Nothing actually told me what to do
with a class of small children. So I had to find out for
myself. It was a very steep and stressful learning curve.
I eventually
discovered all sorts of ways of working in a school
environment and ended up as a regular, mostly unpaid,
fixture at the school. The deputy head, Liz Steinthal,
really connected with what I was doing. In 1995 she left the
school and began planning to open her own school, which
would be called “Educare” and would be a school for children
aged 3 to 11. She was now having regular Alexander lessons
with me and asked if I was interested in her new venture. It
was terrific to be involved in a project like this from the
very beginning. It meant that I had input in all sorts of
ways. For example, I suggested that every school day should
include a period of quiet time when the children and staff
lay semi-supine. I also suggested that the school day begin
with everyone engaging in a movement activity such as t’ai
chi. The overall idea was to integrate the Alexander
Technique into the school day in such a way that would not
require my presence there all the time.
Liz and her
husband Peter finally found and renovated a suitable
property, an old Baptist chapel near to the centre of
Kingston Upon Thames. In February 1997 Educare Small School
opened its doors. We had a beautiful school environment, 45
school places available, some very exciting ideas, a really
great team, and absolutely no children. Who would send their
child to an empty school? Well, eventually someone did and
once we had one child we soon had three, then five, then
lots. So by the summer term that year we were feeling like a
real school.
Making it Work
It is
difficult to remember now, ten years down the line, how
scary things were when we first started. The teaching staff
were all really experienced teachers who had spent many
years in education. Now they were stepping out into some
unexplored areas. It was much easier for me as I had little
experience of education and so no idea about what was or
wasn’t theoretically possible. For example, Liz and I wanted
each day to begin with the whole school together practising
some t’ai chi movements. So this was the plan.
Unfortunately, after about three days of this, the children
were thoroughly bored and rebellious. There was a short
period of some difficulty when the teachers were beginning
to wonder if the whole idea was perhaps just plain barmy. It
was unfamiliar, not totally comprehensible and possibly
pointless as the children were obviously not enjoying it. So
I started adding in some crazy things to keep the kids
interested: dancing like a pirate was a particular
favourite! Then a big breakthrough came when I discovered
Brain Gym™ a series of easy movements that enhance
functioning on all levels. Doing all these movements with a
“tall body” really worked well, integrating Alexander work
into a useful and fun system of movement. Gradually the
morning t’ai chi session evolved into what we now call
Movement Circle. This is a totally accepted and fully
integrated part of every school day. Movement Circle has an
obviously beneficial effect on the children, putting them
into a focussed place where they are ready to learn. We use
elements of Brain Gym™, aikido, EFT (Emotional Freedom
Techniques), occasionally t’ai chi, and various fun
activities that I have invented, all done in a tall way.
The Educare School Day
Educare Small
School has the following aims, not in any order of priority:
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To
develop children as independent learners with an
enthusiasm for learning who are able to organise their
own learning effectively, make choices, and interact
within a stimulating and creative environment.
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To
encourage each child to achieve an appropriate level of
communication through language, mathematics, science,
creative arts and information technology.
The Morning
09.20 to
12.00
Each day
begins with Movement Circle. The whole school takes part in
this. The children then split into small groups and work
with different adults. When I am at school – every Wednesday
– I usually go into the kindergarten at this point. I might
now do some group work with the children. This might be
teaching them some Brain Gym™ movements or possibly playing
some games, singing songs and dancing, as ways of exploring
the Alexander principles. I use stories with children as a
fun teaching aid, and the songs, games and dances we do can
relate back to the stories. The stories are about characters
that have good use and characters that have poor use and
what happens to them when they learn to change.
When the
kindergarten children are engaged in the various activities
laid out for them that morning, I will often occupy a table
and they can choose to come over and work with me. This is
an opportunity for me to do some individual hands-on work.
As our focus we draw a figure eight lying sideways; in Brain
Gym™ these figures are called “lazy 8s”. This activity is
very helpful for brain function and for fine and gross motor
skills. It is an excellent focus for learning to do less
when using a pencil and for focussing on the means-whereby
instead of the end. The children are now beginning to learn
to do something “in a tall way”.
Once the
kindergarten children go out to play I usually move my
centre of operations into the main teaching area of the
school, the hall. I might now work with individual children
in a separated area of the room or I might simply circulate
the hall area putting hands on each child as they are
sitting or standing and engaged in some activity.
I discovered
some time ago that the older children will give much more
attention to their use and have a much greater understanding
of Alexander work if they are given the responsibility of
helping me. I therefore work separately with these children
and I allow them to put hands on me and then on each other
in a very gentle way. Each Wednesday, three or four children
will be asked to help me by putting hands on the others at
Quiet Time. I will usually work with these children
individually before the lunch break. One reason I like
working this way is because it enables a child to understand
that what they are doing with themselves has an effect on
anyone they come into contact with. Quite a profound bit of
learning if you think about it! Also, it enables them to
experience giving and getting benevolent touch from each
other. This is especially important for the boys as they are
often pulling and pushing each other around, punching, play
fighting and sometimes fighting for real. The teachers also
take part in Quiet Time and so the children also have the
experience of offering benevolent touch to the teachers. It
is very interesting how we adults can change our perception
of a child when they work on us in this way. I think of
occasions when I have found a particular child irritating,
annoying, generally disagreeable. Then I have started to get
them to put hands on me and my whole experience of that
child is transformed.
Sometimes I
return to the kindergarten before the end of the morning to
tell them a story. I use puppets for this, the main ones
being Mr Jackson – an 18-inch high skeleton – and his friend
Dippy Dilly – a sort of cuddly bird. At some point in their
adventures they will remember the “magic words” and events
will start to swing in their favour. The magic words are a
form of the Directions: “My head is a floaty balloon, my
shoulders are runny custard.” Surprisingly effective!
The Afternoon
13.00 – 15.30
Every
afternoon begins with Quiet Time. Relaxing music is played
and the children come into the hall from the playground.
They find a space and lie down in a Brain Gym™ position
called “a hook-up”. This position calms the whole system and
consists of a first and second position. In the second
position everyone lies semi-supine. When I am at school I
use this time to do some hands-on work and a few selected
children will help me with this. After ten or fifteen
minutes I ask my helpers to also lie down and we all switch
into a meditation for a few minutes. I then ask everyone to
stop, to allow their bodies to be tall and then to roll onto
their sides and to sit in a tall way. Everyone then sits in
meditation for a few minutes. The session ends and the
children and the teachers are ready to face the afternoon in
a calm and focussed way.
For the rest
of the day I am usually in the hall. Sometimes I work for
thirty minutes or so with a small group of older children.
This is a great time to talk and work together, exploring
aspects of the Technique in much more detail than usual.
Anything can happen in this group as questions or
observations from the children will frequently take us off
on some unexpected, interesting route.
Once I have
finished with the older children I work with the youngest
children in the hall, the 5 to 7 year-olds. Here I sit at a
table and they come over when requested to do some work
focussed around writing. I use lazy-8s here but in a more
advanced way than in the kindergarten. Here we integrate a
letter shape into the 8. Once again the emphasis is on
taking part in this activity in a tall way.
The afternoon
usually ends with a story in the hall. Sometimes it is a Mr
Jackson story for all the children in the hall. Sometimes I
read from my book “The Labyrinth of Gar” for the older
children only. This is a teaching story for 7 to 12
year-olds. It is an adventure story with the principles of
the Technique woven into it.
Postscript
When I began
working with children in 1994 I wondered how much I would be
able to teach them. I marvel now at how egocentric this was.
It was only when I stopped trying to teach them anything at
all that I could be still enough to listen. When I was still
enough to listen then I began to learn. If you get the
opportunity to work with children then take it. Take it even
if you have no idea what you will do. Take it even if the
idea terrifies you. It is a wonderful, wonderful learning
experience.
More about Educare and about working with children can be
found at the Education 2000 website:
www.ed2k.org.uk
Coming soon: a new book about the Alexander Technique and
young people by Sue Merry and Judith Kleinman, working
title: “The Wisdom of Children”.
If you would like to visit Educare Small School and spend
time with Sue she is there every Wednesday. Contact
her to book a visit: e-mail
sue.merry@virgin.net
© Sue Merry 2007
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