Our Ethos
Our Ethos
About Us
The Life skills academy is founded by Gavin Bourke and Stephen Flood, both qualified primary school teachers. Gavin Bourke is also specialist in human behaviour at www.gavinbourke.ie, and Stephen Flood currently is the Acting Principal of Saint Brigid's BNS Foxrock.
The Life Skills Academy runs courses and camps for children aged between 7 and 14 based on the below ethos and philosophy.
Our commitment is to provide a high-quality experience which delivers real value to both parent and child.
Philosophy & Ethos
Our philosophy is based on an understanding that Education should provide children with the skills to navigate both their external and internal journeys.
During our courses and camps, our aim is to expose campers to experiences which will foster self-confidence, encourage resilience to challenges and broaden the scope of their interests in a fun, safe and engaging environment.
We look to achieve this in a number of ways:
One:
Building confidence through responsibility
Before each session, we encourage our campers to set personal goals for themselves across all areas of life using their personal goal books. Goals include anything from speaking to a new person in their group to mastering a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu technique.
Each day we reflect on our goals with the emphasis not on pass or failure but on the act of taking on the challenge, making tiny gains in a given direction and building resilience to the inevitable obstacles which they encountered.
Two:
Broadening the scope of interests
The experiences we have as children, either positive or negative, can colour how we perceive an activity for the rest of our lives. The people who guide us through our first experience help shape our perceptions.
The Life Skills Academy instructors are all experts in their field and are fully equipped to guide each camper through the ups and downs associated with tackling new challenges. The camper to expert ratio is approximately 1 to 6.
Three:
Ethos
The ethos of an organisation describes the spirit which guides their actions on a short and long-term basis.
We look to instil 3 values in our campers each day:
1. Be yourself & follow your own path. Have the courage to let your own personality and light shine.
2. Make the uncomfortable comfortable. Getting into the mindset of looking to make uncomfortable situations comfortable helps us to continually re-evaluate our concept of self and encourages us to expand our horizons.
3. Take personal responsibility for the experiences you wish to have.
These three mindsets are encouraged each day, by the experts at the beginning and end of each session and during the children's personal goal setting time.
