The Golden Rules – Internationally speaking

Guess what? The Golden Rules are now in Samoan – see the beautiful poster above and read on below!

I don’t know where to start with this one. There is so much that I would like to say about how important moral values – and hence the Golden Rules – are for children, no matter which country they live in, what school they go to or what language they speak.

My Golden Rules are these   …

We Are Gentle – i.e. Respect For Physical Safety

We Are Kind – i.e. Respect For Emotional Safety

We Are Honest  – i.e Respect For The Truth

We Look After Things – i.e. Respect For The Environment

We Listen – i.e. Respect For Others

We Work Hard – i.e. Respect For Self

I love taking the Golden Model to different countries and, over the years, it has become a seasoned traveller (as have I)! We have had requests to translate the Golden Rules into many languages from Welsh, Spanish, Samoan, Maori, French to Icelandic – and each time we feel a real buzz of excitement to think that these very basic but crucial moral values are going to be used by lots of different teachers and children in many different countries.

One important translation project for us has been working with the very inspiring Pukenui School in New Zealand. We believe that the Golden Rules and Circle Time fit in just beautifully with what New Zealand education is demanding of its teachers.  In Circle Time we honour each other by listening and speaking which, in turn, leads to the one unifying quality which, if owned by each of us, would lead to world peace. I just love New Zealand, the country, the people, the ways. The people are down-to-earth, tell it as it is and are so warm hearted!  I have had six working trips to New Zealand over a decade or so – it’s brilliant when you start to build relationships with individual schools and their staff and supporters. New Zealand is actively engaged in promoting multi-cultural heritage – and I am thrilled when I see Maori customs and culture being celebrated at the functions that I have attended when visiting. This strong commitment has inspired the Pukenui School to work in partnership with ourselves to create the Golden Rules in Maori – and also in Samoan. The Samoan language is spoken by a significant number of people in New Zealand with Samoan background and the school has produced illustrated posters of the rules in Samoan – which is fantastic so young children and Samoan speakers can access the rules from the day they first walk into school.

 

Above are the Golden Rules in Maori (not for sale)

And speaking of warm-hearted, down-to-earth people, I have been lucky enough to have spent two weeks recently in Wales running various training courses – including one of our own 2-day open conferences on Better Behaviour for Learning and Powerfully Positive Lunchtimes and some individual school training days too. I also ran an in-depth Train the Trainers course and got to know a group of very dedicated, hard-working and joyous practitioners who I hope will take the Golden Model to great places within their settings. It was great fun and a new venture a few years ago translating some of our resources into Welsh, including the Golden Rules posters.

In Hawarden Village Church School, where the Train the Trainers course was held, the wonderful teachers, led by Headteacher Lynn Bartlett, have taken each Golden Rule – one per class – and put their own interpretation onto the rule to make a display to show the rule. Each group talked to the other groups about why they had chosen their display and what it means to them. You can see some of their lovely displays at the end of this blog post. So inspiring and creative!

So, do have fun creating your own Golden Rules, I love to see them wherever I go. And so many people enjoy creating their own with their children for their own particular setting so that the children really take ownership of them. But remember the rules always fall into the same categories (above) and we have the posters all ready for you to use for classrooms, dining halls and playgrounds.

Some time ago I wrote a blog on the Magna Carta and Universal Values.

Our Golden Rules posters and resources are all available in our website HERE including the resources needed to really embed the ideas across the whole school community.

Above are the Golden Rules in Welsh (can be purchased HERE)

Golden Rules illustrative posters created by Hawarden Village Church School, Flintshire

 

Web Manager’s Notes

1. Jenny has worked with several schools in New Zealand  and has presented at conferences on her training trips.
2. Jenny has trained in many countries and contributed to many international conferences over the last few years – to find out more about International partnership work and conferences, please phone 01225 767157 or email circletime@jennymosley.co.uk
3. Jenny has recently returned from presenting several training courses in Wales including a Train the Trainers course and a 2-day open conference in Flintshire.
4. To enquire about Train the Trainers courses or any of Jenny’s training programmes please phone 01225 767157 or email circletime@jennymosley.co.uk
5. To see where Jenny will be holding her 2-day open conferences next, please see website list of Open Conferences.