B is from a small isolated community island. She lives with her grandparents.
B has an impoverished and chaotic background, poor literacy and numeracy and is not always making the correct choices for herself or schooling. School is a chore; when she attends she walks around the perimeter and rarely goes inside.
We worked with her on five different days using outdoor activities as a vehicle to emphasise her abilities physically, and focused on positives rather than negatives, as she is constantly hearing. We used the time to discuss her personal situation; how to find a way of engaging at school and with other peer groups. She was hugely fit and capable. We coasteered, walked and climbed. Her confidence grew with each session, one to one was beneficial and she eventually started to return to school and the classroom. Small steps but large ones for her!
I hear she has been doing really well and developing friendship groups. Just walking through the school door is a major result; it’s the small, difficult to quantify, moments that can have such an impact.