Now that the summer holidays are beginning to seem like a distant memory, the term ‘happy place’ keeps popping up in social media feeds and conversations.
A trendy phrase now, people are using ‘happy place’ as the name for a place that brings us joy, a place we relax, a place where we feel calm, safe and wanted or would rather be. A place to escape to, to dream about, a place to think of when life is getting you down.
Where is your happy place? For most it’s a specific holiday destination where they spend time here and there with the family, making memories to last them through the winter months and into the years ahead or places where the important people in our lives can be found.
For many children their happy place is in fact school. It may sound odd to many, but for those from troubled, unsettled or disadvantaged backgrounds, school is the place where things are consistent and reliable, a place where they feel safe, wanted, calm and able to relax, a place where there are people they know who care deeply about them and want them to be the best they can be and achieve their full potential. In short, their ‘happy place’.
When we close our eyes and transport ourselves to our happy places we see somewhere breathtaking, inspiring, awesome and ‘wow’ to us. For those children who see school as a happy place, when they close their eyes, what do they see? Is it visually breathtaking, inspiring, awesome and ‘wow’ for them?
Even for all those other children for whom school is just school, when you think about it they spend more time in school than any other place, so why should they too not see it in their minds as a visually appealing place?
Is your school a visual school? Does it look like a ‘happy place’? Do you think that when your pupils close their eyes and envisage school it will be inspiring, impactful and memorable?
If you would like to find out more about how we can help you to transform your school into a visually appealing environment, get in touch now.
