How I Create a Positive Start to the New Academic Year

I have never been one who believes in the idea that teachers shouldn’t smile until Christmas. I wouldn’t be able to manage being a grump for that long, and it doesn’t exactly model positivity and good working relationships! In this blog, we are talking about how to get the year off to a positive start. A welcoming smile at the door and a “good morning” greeting are one of my personal expectations – ideally in both directions. Every day is a new day and a chance for a fresh start – and this all starts on Day One!

First Day Nerves

We all have these, staff and pupils alike. Even someone like me in their third decade of teaching gets the wobbles just before I open the door. I get my smile going and get ready to see my next batch of brilliant learners. When pupils first come in, they like to know where they sit, and where their things go. If all that is clear, it gets them over an initial hurdle but also sends the message that you took some time to think about them. It models kindness and supportive behaviour.

A great initial activity can also get pupils in the swing of things. On day one, giving pupils the chance to talk about their summer break is the obvious one. Make sure you do it too. We are in this together for a year and I wouldn’t expect my class to do anything that I wouldn’t do!

The first week is a bit like doing cabin crew demos. You want them to line up a certain way, put things away in an organised fashion, speak one at a time. All that needs rehearsals so that classroom expectations are quickly nailed down. Looking after equipment, saving resources and sharing are all day-one reminders and on-going positive expectations. This is also a great opportunity to get ideas from your new pupils who can tell you what they did in other classes that they liked. The positive learning environment can only be created if we are all valued members of the team.

School is Your Job

One of the first things I say to my pupils is that coming to school each day is just like an adult going to work. We come here to make a difference, to make positive steps into our future. We talk about the fact that even if you find school tricky, you need to persevere and find the positive in every day. This could be seeing their friends and socialising at breaks, or a favourite lesson.

The sense of success can be a driver for some and the topics you are learning about can also motivate. But the bottom line is we are here to work as hard as we can, find success and rise to new challenges. It’s okay to do this at your own pace and in your own way. What makes us different is what makes the world interesting.

I also like to point out to pupils that the classroom is the workplace and break times are our social spaces. Initially, pupils can struggle to keep their focus, and so can teachers. We are away from the structure of school for weeks on end, so we have to take organised, purposeful steps to get the routines going again.

Rules and Tone

Every school has its rules and ones couched in positive language are easier to follow. Pupils need clear, simple rules that tell them what to do, rather than what not to do. Walk around school, instead of Do not run. The rules, ideally, are the same throughout school. Reasons for these rules are useful initial points of discussion. For example, a rule about raising your hand to show you want to contribute means that you don’t interrupt the whole room, it models turn-taking, and it also means we all stop and listen to you. To help with these discussions, check out resources like this Reception PowerPoint on why we have rules, this KS1 worksheet asking children to think about rules for different settings, and this KS2 activity about how rules can improve the school environment.

Good rules result in fairness and positive behaviour. In my class, pupils will wiggle their fingers if they need some equipment, rather than having to speak and interrupt the flow. Similarly, to get pupils quiet, rather than raising my voice I will name things for them to point at or look at: “Look at… the window, ceiling, door, floor, me. Smile at me. Give me a thumbs up.” A calm room is one everyone wants to come back to each day.
 

Responsibility and Ownership

Encouraging pupils to be part of the mechanics of the classroom helps them to positively invest. I always have a big Jobs Board which has pupils’ laminated names on. Everyone has a job and they change each week. I have pupils who hand out books, others who sharpen pencils at the end of the day and even a child who sweeps the big puddle away that forms in the middle of our playground when it rains. They love that job!

Rotating the jobs means pupils get to have a go at all of them – sometimes you get the less interesting jobs, just like in real life. I make a point of thanking the monitors if they do it well and roping pupils in on the organisation of the room. For example, at the end of the lesson each row of pupils has to organise the books into one pile so that the monitors can sweep them away quickly. This builds teamwork and keeps our learning engine running smoothly.

Reflection and Respect

The end of the day can be a great time to reflect on how we have done today. We can do more modelling of how we want things done or tweak the rules by contributing our opinions. You could provide a sentence starter to get discussions going, such as “It would work better if…” or “One thing I would change is…”

Quite often, pupils want to change where they sit. This can lead to a discussion about how classrooms (usually) have seating plans that promote the best possible learning environment. At the start of the year, you might not know who works well together and who does not, so tweaking seating plans will always be on your radar. For pupils who are unhappy with their seating arrangement, I often ask them to draw up a seating plan and then show it to different pupils to see if they think it would work. This can be a great insight into relationships and it also shows that you are willing to listen, compromise and learn from them.

Discussion about positive moments is a nice way to end the day. At my school, we have a weekly reward called the Kindness Star which is given for small acts of kindness that someone noticed. The winner of the award gets a small badge to wear. I remind pupils that I am always on the lookout for my next Kindness Star. Spotlighting positive behaviours shows what you expect but it also keeps the tone bright and cheerful. If you search CGP+ for ‘kindness’, all sorts of great activities come up, like these kindness cards, this checklist and this poster activity.
 

Being relentlessly positive can be very tiring! Things often do not go to plan. This is where you rope in pupils to fix things or keep the positivity going. Have an honest chat. Say how you might be feeling a bit negative or worried about something. What can the group do to support you? You might exaggerate this a little, making a mountain out of a mole hill, but this is the chance for pupils to model to each other how to see the mountain as nothing you can’t climb.

It starts with a smile. And I try to start again every day at the door with that smile.

Happy new term and happy teaching!

I have been a teacher for 28 years, deputy head for about twenty-four of those, and taught from Reception all the way up to Year 6. In this time, I did a two-year stint with my local authority as an adviser for ICT, working in a wide range of schools with teachers and children. I have always been a class teacher at heart, inspired by the wonderful minds of pupils, which makes teaching such an intense but creative and satisfying career.

Take a look at CGP+ resources by Simon.