Primary Education

Educare Small School presents the perfect model for how TRL can be very successfully integrated into every school day. 

Any suitably motivated Primary School could follow this model with an initial, very modest financial outlay. 

Once the system is up and running, then the input required from a professional Alexander Teacher would be significantly reduced.

Although Educare has the great benefit of being a small school, TRL and associated practices are transferrable to any size school.

See below for how your school can do this

A Truly Pioneering School

We have taken the principles of the Alexander Technique and simplified and adapted them for children. This became what we now call The Ready List (TRL)

Although many other schools have Alexander work available for individual pupils, at Educare the work is seamlessly integrated into the school day and used by all pupils and teachers.

What Do We Do That is Different?

Now let's look at some of our unique Educare practices and what we notice about how they impact on the children and the staff here:

• TRL is integrated into all activities. This helps everyone to perform any task with the natural poise that young children still inhabit. Our aim is to teach them that they have the choice to find that state if they wish before it is lost and difficult to re-learn. TRL and other, complementary movements, are also focused on at specific times e.g. at the end of playtimes before lining up. This turns the energy of playtime into a more focused energy. We endeavour to create the environmental conditions at Educare (use of ergonomic furniture and chair-free areas for example) that do not actively work against the above objectives. Many of the children feed back to us that TRL helps them to manage their emotions and to find a calm place when they are upset in some way.

• Stopping at the door before returning to the classroom. A teacher stops each child before they enter the school from outside, or at the classroom door, and reminds them to be soft and tall. This briefly brings the child’s focus onto themselves and how they are feeling. This has the effect of calming and focusing the children before they enter the classroom. It helps towards a more peaceful atmosphere in the school and means that the children are ready to resume their schoolwork as soon as they enter the classroom spaces. 

• Movement Circle. Every morning begins with movements that help the children become calm, centred, and ready for the school day - a sort of active morning assembly. Movement Circle has been in place since day-one at Educare, but the session continually evolves as we discover new, useful movements and activities.

• Lazy Labyrinths. This activity integrates TRL into practicing skills for writing, focusing and learning. This is an activity that has been developed at Educare using existing elements taught in the Educational Kinesiology system, plus new ideas developed by Sue Merry, founder member of Educare and Alexander Technique coordinator.

• Quiet Time. A daily session of constructive rest and relaxation. We use TRL and calming body positions to give everyone an opportunity to be peacefully in their own space for a short time each day. When an Alexander Teacher is present this is also an opportunity for children to experience how to give and receive benevolent touch.

Movement for Change

Educare has been pursuing these objectives and many of these methods since the school first opened. We were a long way ahead of the curve at that time. 

Finally, the wider world is beginning to acknowledge issues around children’s mental, physical and emotional health. 

Such issues can arise from over-stressed, over-stretched and rigid educational systems, plus the problems created by the ways in which we live now. 

For example, the increasing pressures put on younger and younger children by social media, the Covid pandemic, financial hardship and living in a very uncertain world.

Research and various theories are now being considered concerning how our natural way of functioning has been subverted by the rapid changes to the environment and our lifestyles, especially since the industrial revolution. 

The time is right for us to reassess what is truly important and what we want to be the daily experience for our children.

Find out how your school can be a part of this movement

• Chethams School for Young Musicians
• Dragon School
• Educare Small School
• Harris Primary Academy 
• Primary Royal Academy of Music 
• Sunningdale School 

Please add your school to this list!

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