Go back

News | 30 November 2022

Maria Dufva and Jane Bannington visit IESJ. 

The months of October and November have been full of wonderful professional development opportunities for staff here at IESJ. 

The months of October and November have been full of wonderful professional development opportunities for staff here at IESJ. 

During weeks 41-45 we worked closely with criminologist and author Maria Dufva. Dufva’s mission is "to save as many children as possible from all types of abuse, harassment, bullying, threats and hatred through public education", and she does this well. 

Our work with Dufva began with three weeks of staff training, followed by two weeks of student introduction, all aided by videos and materials provided by Dufva. Our weeks of self study culminated in a day with Dufva where she presented her work to all of our year 5, 6, and 8 students, then our staff, and finally our parents. All in all, Dufva presented for more than 5 hours and catered each one of her talks to her respective audiences. Dufva is an engaging, relatable, informative, and in touch speaker; a true master of her craft! 

In addition to her presentations, Dufva also met with and counselled our Primary, Junior, and Senior School Pastoral Care Teams. 

Dufva has written the following books, many of which can be found in our School’s library: Värsta Bästa Tonåren, Värsta Bästa Svårsnacket, Värsta Bästa Hälsan, and Värsta Bästa Nätet. In her books Dufva directly addresses children and provides concrete advice. Her books also contain true stories from children that Maria met and helped as a criminologist. 

Maria herself is active on social media, where she strongly advocates for young people's right to a better and safer online presence. She also writes posts about health, relationships and new research findings.

During week 47 we continued working on a long term project with Jane Bannington who hails from England. Our training and cooperation with Mrs. Bannington began last winter, at which time Banington trained our staff in the sensory needs, emotional well being, and behaviour management of students with an ADHD and or an ASD diagnosis. Our initial training session was followed up by an in person visit last spring, where Bannington visited many of our classrooms for observations. After observing our school and classroom environments, Bannington coached our school’s Leadership and Pastoral Care Teams on classroom management and general school organisation in regards to better accommodating the needs of students diagnosed with ADHD and or ASD. This prompted further staff training and school improvements. 

During Mrs. Bannington's week 47 visit, a similar structure was observed. This time around, however, our joint efforts were focused primarily on how we work with our year 5 and 7 students.

It has been very enriching to cooperate with Bannington. She has 43 years of experience working in Special education. She has also worked as an advisory teacher, a development coordinator, and is currently an independent consultant creating bespoke service based on developing a working relationship to meet the needs of children, families and schools.

Bannington’s services include but are not limited to; advice on implementing a healthy sleep pattern, making positive changes to behaviour, supporting sensory issues, implementing play and learning programmes, as well as, supporting students in meeting school targets.