Helping Children Find Their Voice Webinar Replay
Webinar exploring with Ellen Shustik, head of programmes and external relations, for the charitable foundation Inner Wings, why helping young children and especially girls to develop a growth mindset, realise their unique potential and improve their public speaking skills is so important today and for their future careers.
Read the feature on this topic, Confidence building for primary aged children, by Ruth Holmes in our new online Guide to International Education & Schools 2022/23.
Ellen Shustik, head of programmes and external learning for Inner Wings talks with passion and enthusiasm about this charitable foundation based in London, UK founded by tech leader, Melissa Di Donato Roos, the first female CEO of SUSE, the global open-source solutions company and her husband Darren Roos. The charity's mission is to build confidence in children aged 6 to 12, especially girls. This is more critical than ever after the pandemic, which has seen children's mental health significantly impacted by lockdowns, and anxiety an increasingly prevalent issue. The webinar opens up the opportunity for any English-speaking school to get involved wherever they are in the world. As you will discover Inner Wings offers free confidence-building programmes to primary schools across the UK, underpinned by evidence-based psychological insights including free teacher training and a comprehensive handbook.
Inner Wings offer two free programmes for teachers to use with primary age children 'Finding your superpower' and Finding your voice'. Ellen Shustik explains the content of each programme for children of age 6 to 12 years. Already over 200 teachers have been trained and over 4,000 children are participating in their programmes. The benefits are clear:
- Free and inclusive
- Online teacher training
- 6-8 interactive 45-minute sessions delivered by teachers
- Resources provided remotely which any English-speaking school can utilise
- Flexible to use for entire class or as an intervenionist approach for children needing it the most
- In line with Personal and Social Education frameworks
Discover a wealth of resources available to parents, schools and teachers
Books
Inner Wings' co-founder and CEO, Melissa Di Donato Roos, has written three children's books - The Magic Box, How Do Mermaids Poo? and Kick Like a Girl.
Inspired by her daughter each book encourages children, especially girls how to reach for their dreams, no matter how big, to be courageous, and to drive a positive impact in the world around them.
Education videos and talks
Discover a wealth of material on YouTube including a mini-series of short videos on Finding your super powers for parents, children and teachers to access at home.
Workshop for parents
Online to help parents understand the psychology behind confidence and how to identify challenges with tips, ideas and resources to support their children at home.
Enjoy this stimulating webinar and find out how you can help "Build the next generation of confident leaders one child at a time".
Find out more, read the article on the International Education and Schools' Fair page.
Bio Ellen Shustik
Ellen has 20 years of experience working in the fields of democracy and governance, international development and politics. She has worked for large international and multilateral organisations around the world, including the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the Balkans, and the National Democratic Institute in Washington DC and Nepal.
She spent several years working for the Liberal Party of Canada in both federal and provincial politics. With a strong background in elections, she has been an observer with over a dozen international election observation missions in all regions of the world.
During her time in London, Ellen has worked for Liberal International, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change - in a range of policy, programme management and advocacy roles. As a democracy practitioner, she has worked with political parties, parliaments, civil society and on women’s political empowerment, to strengthen democratic processes. As a human rights advocate, she has worked on global campaigns against modern slavery and violence against women in politics, as well as preventing extremism through education.
Ellen currently directs a charitable foundation - Inner Wings - whose mission is to build confidence in young children aged 6-12, especially girls. She holds a Masters in European Studies and a Masters in Human Rights Law, and loves living in London with her husband and two young boys.
Inner Wings Charity No.: 1192877
