Middle Schools 9-13yrs

Building happy life habits and managing the tricky bits

Trick Box helps to develop the personal habits and skills we all need to not only manage ourselves but to take up positive life opportunities and thrive!

The Trick Box K2-3 programmes have been specifically adapted for Middle schools with years 5-6 following the modified KS2 programme and years 7-8 following the KS3 Inbox programme.

The Middle school programme is a standalone resource but also builds on the First school programme and provides a foundation for the Upper school and 6th form Inbox programmes.

Click here to learn more about the KS2 programme

Throughout their KS2 journey, children develop self-coaching skills and use tricks from their Trick Box to help them manage everyday life whilst building a repertoire of personal habits and skills for the future.

Each trick takes 10-15 minutes to present in class or assembly time. Teachers use the tricks in class and parents are able to practise these with their children at home.

Happy Habits Assemblies and Log

Our bite-size Happy Habits Assemblies are included in our main school programme along side our Happy Habits Log.

Magic Minutes

There are also some Trick Box extras to further enhance your programme which also link to the KS3 Inbox programme.

The Magic Minutes use just a few minutes of classroom time to build habits designed to promote inclusivity and enhance learning and performance as well as maximise personal happiness, optimism and wellbeing.

The Habit Wheel

The Habit Wheel support programme is designed to help individual children to break limiting habits and create motivating new ones to positively affect behaviour and choices.

The Inbox programme for years 7-8 introduces habit-based tricks in 5 key areas to develop progressive personal skills and subskills in line with age-related experiences and development.

Inbox is simple to use

The year group leader guides have all the information needed to present the weekly on-screen personal development tricks and strategies in 10-15 mins or you could choose to discuss the concepts further.

Introduce them

Build on them

Timetable options

The Inbox guide timetables give you the option of working on a mixed-trick yearly timetable for each year group or to focus on one of the 5 specific Trick Box areas over each half-term period.

Journals

You can also choose to use the year group journals for the whole school or for individuals/small groups to work on their own development areas using the journals to log progress, build self-awareness and motivate action.

Posters

Posters linking to the tricks can be placed around the school as part of the habit-building strategy which help to trigger new positive thinking and behaviour routines, building long-term habits and intrinsic rewards.

Independence is key
The Inbox programme for KS3 encourages young people to build on their individual strengths and develop autonomy.

Using an Inbox self-coaching model alongside the weekly habit-based tricks helps individuals to develop solution-thinking around challenges and change and create motivating plans for the future.

Enhance Inbox with the Support and Mentor programmes for KS3

The Inbox support programme allows staff to work with young people 1-1 or in small groups to help them manage limiting habits and encourage independence around self-coaching skills, whilst developing positive strategies linked to the Inbox programme.

The Inbox mentor programme develops task and people-based skills by creating a wide range of mentoring opportunities where young people recognise their individual skills and strengths and choose to mentor others, contributing to the whole school community. Lesson plans are included.

Additional Training

Our school programme resources include easy-use manuals, step-by-step activity instructions and staff training Power Points. You have everything you need but if you’d like a little extra, we also provide additional training.