At the International Baccalaureate (IB) accredited Genesis School, we aim to prepare students for an optimal future, by providing career guidance and counselling. Our students participate in activities that will help them gain transferable skills that they will use throughout their lives in their chosen career fields. Here are the action lines we use!
Middle School: Socio-Emotional Development
At Genesis College, we emphasize the development of social-emotional skills that enable students to communicate effectively with others, integrate into groups, manage demands, and grow into intellectually and emotionally intelligent adults. With the help of specialist teachers, they will develop a harmonious personality and be able to cope successfully with challenges.
Children are given special attention and are carefully observed as early as the preparatory class, when there are workshops dedicated to each age group, resulting in the following outcomes:
- increased ability to concentrate
- better attention and motivation for learning
- establishing appropriate relationships with colleagues and teachers
- effective group integration
- compliance with the rules
- discovering oneself and one’s emotions
- the ability to interact effectively and harmoniously with others
- ability to resolve conflicts
Special situations that arise are handled by the school’s specialists, involving teachers and parents. Among the objectives of counselling is the personal development of pupils, which includes: building an appropriate self-image, stress management, effective learning techniques, coping with negative affective mood or lack of self-confidence, managing risky behaviours or interpersonal conflicts, all of which aim to act appropriately before they have negative effects on their school and personal development.
Middle School: Stop to Bullying
A national study on the phenomenon of bullying in Romanian schools, carried out by Save the Children Romania, shows that:
- 3 out of 10 children are consistently excluded from their peer group;
- 3 out of 10 children are threatened with beating or hitting by peers;
- 1 in 4 children have been humiliated in front of their peers.
At Genesis College, we cultivate self-respect and respect for others in our students from a young age. We run an anti-bullying programme in the Middle School to discourage bullying, and we teach youngsters how to set boundaries and communicate appropriately with others to avoid conflict.
Periodically, we carry out prevention activities in the classroom, coordinated by the teacher or head teacher, where students have the opportunity to practice different roles and situations in which conflicts could arise. We also carefully observe pupils’ behaviour at different times and our specialists discuss with them in specific activities, both in class and separately.
Teachers at the Secondary School benefit from regular meetings with our psychologist Lucia Șireanu, so that, within the counselling and personal development programmes for students, the aim is to identify personality traits, to know their strengths, to know and recognize their weaknesses, their limits/vulnerabilities.
Month of Tolerance- Accepting Differences
We are different, without a doubt, in so many ways. While some aspects of diversity are easier to accept, others are more difficult to tolerate. How do we teach children to be open to diversity? How do we teach children tolerance, understanding and acceptance of differences between people?
Every year, in November, a series of activities are held aimed at forming tolerant behaviours and attitudes, on the basis of which students act with understanding and responsibility in various life circumstances with an attitude of camaraderie, respect, acceptance of differences and awareness of shared goals as members of society.
The activities give children the opportunity to learn to build relationships based on understanding and solidarity.
During Tolerance Month, students participate in workshops and seminars given by school psychologists and other specially invited specialists. The activities are based on a psychotherapeutic method that combines rational thinking and emotions, where the two together have a major impact on behavioural changes and, subsequently, on thoughts leading to tolerance. Students are thus invited to discover the intertwining of the two worlds – of behaviour and thought – that support personal success through a healthy mindset.
Children of the 21st century live in an ever-changing world and have to adapt to the demands and requirements of society. Regardless of the speed at which technology has developed, some aspects seem to remain the same, even though they wear different ‘clothes’. It is about class differences, marginalisation, judging others by their clothes, cars, accessories, income, etc.
Through these seminars, we want our students to recognise the differences between people and accept them as they are, to analyse the idea of different and the same and to form their own opinion about marginalisation.
Genesis College Middle School Social Emotional Development Programme Workshops
“FREE TO BE ME – The power of relationships”. This programme has been designed in such a way as to cover the fundamental points of optimal development in the personality structure of students (identity, problem solving, emotionality, empathy, fears, etc.).
HI 5 Club – I am the coach of my own life! Future-oriented coaching programme, where no labels are placed and no circumstances are sought. During meetings, students have the opportunity to talk about difficult topics such as bullying and relationships. They are encouraged to see the world from a new, real perspective, to set goals for self-improvement and to become responsible.
‘You are awesome’ social-emotional development workshops are designed to help students develop the knowledge, confidence, skills and courage they need to become responsible and confident.
By developing emotional intelligence, students learn how to handle stressful situations and how to communicate with others in such moments.
In the Generation.Next social-emotional development programme, students are guided through dialogue, writing, role-play and art therapy:
- to develop behavioural change strategies focused on the management of maladaptive behaviours;
- How to learn strategies for anger management and ways to avoid conflict in school and the community;
- how to develop learning skills and increase learning efficiency and autonomy.
Middle School: Differentiated Approach
The advantages that Genesis College offers students in terms of learning are:
- Emphasis on assimilating information through practical application
- Promoting inclusive education
- We adapt the teaching approach according to the particularities of each child
Each child has different educational needs, so a differentiated approach is needed, tailored to each individual child. Teachers and school counsellors and psychologists can help teachers to approach pupils differently, depending on their abilities. In the case of children with special educational needs, the psychologist, educational psychologist and class teachers work as a team to facilitate their educational integration and development.
Middle School: Career Guidance
For us, the counselling and guidance aspects of the secondary school years are particularly important, because we want our students to find a balance between what they want to do, what they can do and what they will do in their professional lives. Through counselling and guidance programmes, we help children discover and develop skills that will contribute to their later career success.
At the Middle School, students receive information about the requirements in different fields so that they will be prepared for future professional challenges. As part of the counselling and guidance programme during the secondary school years, we introduce children to the educational offerings of high schools in Bucharest and abroad, accompany them to fairs where they can meet their representatives and advise them on the admission process.
Școala Gimnazială: Echipa de specialiști
Carmen Costea
Psychoeducator
Sorina Petrică
Psychologist
Lucia Șireanu
Psychologist
Dragoș Borugă
Psiholog
At Genesis College, our students gain confidence in their own abilities and thus become able to adapt to different situations in everyday life.
Students benefit from:
- Strengthening general culture coupled with the development of emotional intelligence
- Encouraging the recognition and expression of emotions, which results in effective and healthy interaction and harmonious relationships with others
- Developing problem-solving skills by pointing out practical solutions will help them to deal effectively with various situations they will face throughout their lives
During the guidance and personal development classes, we carry out activities with the group of children that lead to:
- learning management skills, developing learning skills and increasing learning efficiency and autonomy
- career management skills – exploring the world of careers, developing decision-making skills and adopting a healthy lifestyle – developing a responsible attitude to health and the environment and managing risk behaviours
- guidance towards self-discovery and the development of personal potential
- improving self-image, boosting motivation for school success
- improving interpersonal and assertive communication skills
At the Middle School, every pupil gets attention. We aim to give them the resources to discover their passions, motivate them to hone their skills and express their thoughts and opinions. Throughout the process, we work closely with parents to provide children with a personalised plan for intellectual and emotional development.
Media Library PODCAST GENESIS COLLEGE
We want to contribute to improving the lives of our parents and students, making it easier for them to access information that can make a significant contribution to their personal development. To do this, we have developed the Media Library.
In preadolescence and adolescence, a radical transformation takes place in self-consciousness, when, depending on the current level of societal development, a new content of this nuclear formation is formed in the personality structure of young people.
Determining factors of continuous self-formation are the experience of communication with adults and peers and their individual experience, which determine the formation of the content of self-consciousness depending on the current social-historical situation in society.
The content of the basic components in the structure of contemporary preadolescents’ self-consciousness differs from known standards; depending on the social developmental situation in preadolescents, a specific content of self-consciousness is formed.
The social developmental situation determines the formation of specific moments in the preadolescent’s self-consciousness that are related to tempo, dynamics, and social-historical conditions determine the very content of self-consciousness: “Who am I and how do I want to be?”
To go through all of the above, we invite you to follow our work in the Media Library.
PODCAST GENESIS COLLEGE
Parent’s evening @ GENESIS College – “Cum le dezvoltăm copiilor inteligența emoțională și cea socială” – un eveniment Genesis College care s-a adresat în mod direct părinților elevilor din clasele a V-a, oferindu-le un element de suport, astfel, marcând momentul de cunoaștere și socializare în etapa dificilă de tranziție
