Mairangi Bay School has been involved in the award winning programme Roots of Empathy (ROE) since its inception four years ago. ROE has shown dramatic effects in reducing levels of aggression and violence among students, while raising social/emotional competence and increasing their empathy. ROE develops children’s understanding of the needs of a baby and what it is to be a good parent, and apply these ideas to understanding others.
Empathy is a key ingredient for responsible citizenship and responsive parenting and directly links to our school vision for developing children’s emotional and social capabilities. In the past three years, the programme has been delivered to our Year 5 and 6 classes, which have been identified as one of the best age groups to demonstrate the impact of ROE. These are some MBS learning comments from children:
- You never shake a baby.
- Babies show their emotions by crying.
- Caring for babies is demanding for parents.
Since 2007, there has been a rapid increase in the number of schools taking part in the programme. Deputy Principals Mrs Jeanette Smail and Mrs Deanna Johnston are our ROE teachers for Room 13 children (Mrs Bev Boyd) and Room 3 (Mr Peter Stoner).
Room 13
Room 3
OVER THE YEAR ....
In our Roots of Empathy classes, baby Jess and baby Ella are the "teachers". We learn about our babies, others and ourselves - this is the 'triangle of learning'. Please check out our baby teachers in Room 3 and 13 below.
