Navigators is a family run organisation with family values, a family ethos and a philosophy of nurture at the heart of its objectives and existence. We look to recruit the best compassionate and empathetic staff to make a difference to lives of vulnerable children and young people and their families, through a robust Safer Recruitment process. As a looked after child myself, I understand how important this should be in the influencing years of a child’s life.
Intelligence is composite. We believe that Social and Ethical intelligence is just as, if not more, important as a person’s IQ. This is our key area of development with each child we work with.
We believe that alternative provision really should be alternative, as you cannot replace school with school. All children are individuals and therefore all interventions should be individual, it really is simple.
Not all interventions will work, and we believe that the one step backwards is just as important as the two steps forward.
At Navigators we use a simple three step approach, with all three areas being as important as each other.
To entice children to re-engage and trust adults, we need to Create the Environment. This is as simple as the mentors, teachers and other staff we place around them in their day to day learning. Children should not be placed in poor facilities or isolation.
Children’s learning and development should be fun and motivating and should be built around their interests. The offer to the child should be inspirational and re-ignite their aspirations and learning.
The child is the curriculum and should be placed at the heart of any programme you are asking them to engage in.
We are constantly looking and learning from positive child development and educational specialists and Professor Carol Dweck has a massive impact on my philosophy. We also use a positive language philosophy around the children every day and all staff are trained to use a Growth Mindset approach with “Not Yet” rather than ‘fail’ focus in educational settings. Our vision was designed by feeding the carefully selected key words to describe our provision into the search engine:
LEARN – DEVELOP – ENJOY.
Anthony Thompson
Navigators students...
Navigators students...
Navigators students...
