March 2011 

What a beautiful sunny month to celebrate our final CAPP meeting.

But before I move on to the CAPP news, I thought it might be useful to take little visit to the brain.  Having been met with another storming, shouting, door-slamming session with my youngest (because silly old mum dared to suggest putting slimy mushrooms into her arrabiata sauce), rapidly followed by a sobbing mess the following morning, I thought it would be useful to take a little journey around the scary landscape of the teenage brain. 

Hopefully it may go a small way to explain to our partnership why they're so smart...but act so bloody dumb!

When researching this subject, I read with amusement that after seeing his son through the teen years, a well-known celebrity gentleman (name withheld for liability reasons) endorsed the Mark Twain approach to child-rearing: "When a child turns 12, he should be kept in a barrel and fed through the bung hole, until he reaches 16…at which time you plug the bung hole."

Oh the intensity! The sullenness! The drama!  And it isn't only the rebellious, mono-syllabic, chain-smoking, baseball hat wearing 'Kevins' who suddenly turn on us.  When a seemingly intelligent A-grade young man ends up in the hospital getting his stomach pumped because he went out binge drinking and had no idea how much was too much; there's just no predicting from one day to the next what families with teenagers may face.  As recently as 10 years ago, parents (and even scientists) threw up their hands and cried, "Hormones!" when asked why our children become so nutty around the time of adolescence.  Surely developing an unholy passion for Justin Bieber is evidence that most 13 years old girls are awash with stupidity hormones?  But to explain adolescent behaviour we need to turn to science.

Teenagers lack of judgement isn't always because they're just plain irresponsible or that they don't care - their brain simply hasn't yet developed to full capacity.  “The teenage brain is not just an adult brain with fewer miles on it,” says Frances E. Jensen, a professor of neurology. “It’s a paradoxical time of development. These are people with very sharp brains, but they’re not quite sure what to do with them".  I couldn't count how many times my mother said to me during my teenage years (when I missed another bus or dyed my hair another ridiculous colour) "If you had even half a brain child you'd be dangerous!" 

Research over the past 10 years, powered by technology such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI scanning), has revealed that young brains have both fast-growing synapses (the gaps between neurons, or 'nerve cells') and vast sections that remain unconnected.  An even more exciting discovery for scientists was that this was focussed primarily on the brain's pre-frontal cortex (or front brain), the part of the outer cortex responsible for "higher" functions such as decision-making, planning, the control of emotions, empathy and the understanding of other people's facial expressions; with a reliance on the fight or flight amygdala or 'ancient brain'.  This leaves adolescents easily influenced by their environment and more prone to impulsive behaviour and addiction; and that's without the addition of those souped-up hormones, genetic predispositions and family influences!

Ok, so here's an example some mothers may recognise.  You spend hours cooking a delicious dinner and call your teenager down from his/her room to join the family.  The teen brain recognises it is hungry (the ancient brain says 'Oh Yeah, I'm hungry') so the teen stomps down the stairs, sits silently at the table, eats rapidly, grunts and leaves (when the ancient brain is satisfied).  Frustrated mum then gets angry that her inconsiderate, selfish offspring has not appreciated her hard work, or even cleared his plate into the dishwasher.  Mum then proceeds to shout and throw pots angrily in the sink.  But inside her teenager's brain the neurotransmitters are simply sending electrical messages in the wrong directions; and he/she won't fully develop the hard-wiring for empathy until his brain has fully matured approximately 25 years to understand your pot-bashing behaviour.  Although we certainly need to set boundaries and correct poor behaviour in our teenagers, we can certainly do it more effectively when we know what is going on inside their heads...and what on earth they're talking about. 

If this neurology interests you and you would like to know more, then I would recommend Jeannie Von Stultz, PhD, psychologist and Director of US Mental Health Services series of lectures on adolescent brain development (follow the link below to go directly to the first of the series):

Adolescent Brain Development

If you need a dictionary to translate 'teen speak' then check out the online:

Jargon Buster

And if like me you are still smack bang in the middle of those storming teen years, here are some tips for coping with teenagers:

Ultimately, remember...

"Parenting isn't about controlling your kids; it's about controlling your responses!"

To address that innate risk-taking element of teenage behaviour and to create personal development opportunities for young people who are disadvantaged by their socio-economic background, I have signposted schools to a fantastic local charity who are very interested in working with our Gosport and Fareham secondary schools.   There are still places available for young people in receipt of LEAP funding on sailings taking place in April and May 2011; or perhaps you might be interested in planning a bespoke voyage for a group of pupils?  Ocean Youth Trust have been announced as one of the Royal Wedding Gift fund charity benefactors so they are keen to create new partnership opportunities.   If you would like to use your funding to enable young people to participate in sailing as an extended school activity, please get in touch and I am happy to liaise with the necessary people on your behalf.

Ocean Youth Trust South

In March we also saw the first ever National Outdoor Play Week.  Now those of you who have followed these blogs over the years will know that I am a very keen advocate for outdoor play and education beyond the classroom.  For this reason I was happy to take-up the training opportunity offered by the new HCC Play Strategy Manager, Melissa Juniper.  So off I went to Queen Elizabeth Country Park and spent half a day amongst the trees (and in my case...up the tree), hauling logs, building dens, lighting fires and painting with mud.   Many thanks to Melissa for organising such a wonderful and inspiring training session - and for demonstrating how you need very little money, or direction to encourage outdoor play with all age groups.  To create smiles - simply add mud!

For the younger age group I have sent information and contact details to our Primary Schools about Stubbington Study Centre.  They will be running residential sports courses this summer that you may like to consider for allocating your LEAP funding.  If you need more details, or have any questions, then then please get touch.

I have also received a price list for industrial quality dance mats for schools if any of our partnership schools are interested?  It could be a wonderful extended school activity for children and young people who are reluctant to participate in mainstream or team sports.  Perhaps one of our CAPP schools would like to store the equipment on behalf of a cluster as a shared venture? Please ring or e-mail and I shall send the information.

Which leads me rather nicely to Extended Services Funding...  

Now you will be aware that our funding in its present source will no longer continue beyond July 2011; nor the coordination of the partnership.  However the good news is that we still have money remaining that we are very keen to allocate as soon as possible.  The Strategic Board will meet for the last time to decide on funding applications in May so please ensure you have completed your grant application form (available to download below) and return it to me at shiggs@actionfareham.org.uk by

Thursday 19th May 2011

CAPP Grant Application Form 2010-2011

Please remember that priority will be given to the following areas in our Action Plan:

Parenting and Parenting Programme

Creative ways of engaging with families and family learning events

Gardening Projects and Outdoor Education

Intergenerational projects

Holiday workshops, holiday clubs and school inset day activities

Well-being teams in schools

Early intervention and inclusion projects

So let's go back to our final CAPP Meeting.  Rather than dissolving our partnership in an atmosphere of doom and gloom, I thought it would be much better to practice my 'Solution Focused Skills' training and leave on a really positive note.  Of course we can learn from our mistakes and failures (we had a few) but it is always more productive to focus on successes, aim the partnership in the right direction and encourage you to keep going.   With this in mind I attempted to take a trip down memory lane and showcase all of the good things we have achieved over the past few years at our celebration meeting.  When I put together our final presentation to show at our CAPP Meeting, I must confess that I was mildly surprised at the distance we had covered. 

It wouldn't have been possible without the amazing determinations and hard-work of everyone involved; in particular Gay Shelley (Head Teacher, Northern Infant School) for her vision and focus at the outset and to Rena Randall, Jude Ramshaw and Julie Armstrong for their work at Strategic level. 

CAPP Celebration Presentation (pdf)

At the end of the old financial year we may have some new words (...out goes 'Every Child Matters' and in comes 'Help Children Achieve More') and a new coalition government, but as I stressed at the beginning of this extended services journey that we must never forget that at the heart of education process lies the child.  Now that the chancellor has made his announcements on public sector spending, I am now certain that schools will have to be far more creative in their approach to providing extended services to raise every child's aspirations.  But partnership working will certainly not go away; in fact the various partnerships across the county will need to grow stronger and more flexible over the coming years as more families fall below the poverty line.  

Not only are our schools now on the right path, I am also proud to say that we have left behind a small legacy.  Hampshire County Council have produced a glossy booklet and DVD that was launched by David Wright at our County Forum in March.  Not only is there a case study in  "Extended Services: Inspiring the Future" featuring Cams Community Club, the DVD also showcases the Ubuntu Inclusion Project, the Rights, Respect and Responsibilities (RRR) work at Portchester Community School and also the Wheelchair Football (with a few familiar faces).  I am extremely proud that we have been used as an example of inspirational extended services.  I thank you sincerely.   

To help you on the next part of your journey on a positive footing, I would like to share the following.  David Wright (HCC Extended Services Manager) delivering his retirement speech at our final County Forum this month told us a poignant story of a world-renowned musician, Itzak Perlman, whose violin string snapped during a public performance.  However this incredibly talented man carried on playing with just three strings to a standing ovation.  When asked why he didn't stop and replace the string, he explained that we all need to be stretched and challenged on occasions or we risk becoming complacent.  David used the following Itzak Perlman's quotation at our Forum to illustrate the next chapter of the extended services journey

"Sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left”

I would suggest you read that sentence over again.  When you have a 'no-can-do' negative head on perhaps you should consider applying the 'Perlman Theory'.

As usual I shall end my blog on a humorous note.  But I have some quick questions for you first.  Did you know that the average child laughs about 400 times per day?  Did you also know that the average adult laughs only 15 times per day...?  So can someone enlighten me what happens to those other 385 laughs?  

My theory is that they are there bubbling under the surface waiting for an opportunity to escape.  Fortunately for people who spend the majority of their day with small children and hilarious teenagers there's far more than 15 opportunities a day to chuckle; so let's honour our hard working teachers by looking at a small selection of children's work:

What I got learned in class