Sometimes you have those moments that make you go wow! Recently, I had one of these moments when I found We Belong Education led by Saurubh Malviya.
I wasn’t looking, but one day earlier this year in June I came across a post on a OSHC Facebook group I hadn’t seen before from someone offering training sessions. The post caught my eye due to the wording – it was different. It wasn’t the generic wording and there was more heart transpired through the post. After a quick google, check of their website and Facebook page – I initiated contact.
I noticed Saurubh had OSHC experience himself and had worked in centres for 12+ years, is studying a PHD in OSHC (I didn’t even know people did that?!), lectures at University on children’s development, previously a teacher, and had even set up OSHC centres in India for disadvantaged children. I’m pretty sure I described him to my team as a better human than I’ll ever be. No exaggeration here.
Although Saurubh had the OSHC experience and the background, it was his holistic approach that drew me in.
Saurubh is based in Queensland, but he was making a trip down to Sydney in July. After talking with him and finding out more about his approach, I thought I would give it a go. I booked him in for a team training session and wanted to see how we go from there.
Wow I’m so glad I did!
Timing is everything and I believe sometimes things happen for a reason. Saurubh for our centre, came at perfect timing. Saurubh focuses on many different areas, but for our team I was looking for a tailored training session. I didn’t really know what I wanted, but I knew I needed it. After talking on the phone with Saurubh, we figured out a plan moving forward for what we could do for a team training session. At first, I thought I needed more of a team cohesive approach, focusing on emotional intelligence and how our personal interactions can affect the children and our work. But one week before Saurubh was due to join us, I changed my mind. I felt the team was extremely cohesive and at that point were very aware of themselves. I wanted to move the focus more to a child behaviour approach and how we can better manage as a team with behaviour. Saurubh happily took this on board for our training session.
You don’t know, what you don’t know.
Saurubh’s approach is different, he came with humour, a lot of humour, (which our team loved) and no set plan of one solution for all OSHC centres. Although the presentation was planned, he changed to suit the team and our centre as the session went on.
Not only did we have the team session, Saurubh also spent 2 hours on the floor for the afternoon session. This I had not come across before from a training session, but found it so useful. We were looking for support with behaviour, which we may of been able to tell him scenarios about – but seeing them for himself in action, there’s no comparison. He could watch how educators and children interacted with each other, see what behaviours popped up, how our routines were flowing and so much more. He could provide real feedback, and he did.
Since the first session ran so well and the team enjoyed it, I organised for Saurubh to come back on his next trip to Sydney in August (now).
We had our second team training session with Saurubh last night. It was two hours of great – we had 23 educators present, all at different stages in their working with children career and even myself with 15 years behind me – learnt so much. Saurubh asked two questions of the team before the session on what issues they had with behaviour and tailored the second session with these responses and what he observed from the first session. It was perfect. He addressed everyone’s concerns and gave practical feedback on how to help.
Look at it as behaviour engagement, not behaviour management.
Most importantly of what shines through on Saurubh’s delivery is his focus on the child. He reminds us that we are dealing with children, who have child logic, but we are expecting them to have adult logic. This resonated well with myself and the team.
We have our follow up session with Saurubh this afternoon – where he is coming in to see our educators in action with the children. I’m excited to hear the feedback from this session and how we can improve, I feel improvement is important as it’s to benefit the children which are our main focus after all.
I’m due to go on maternity leave in October and whilst thinking ahead I too want to organise him to come in once a term to work with the team whilst I’m away. I am looking forward to seeing our growth and comparing where we were in July 2019 and seeing where we are as a team in July 2020.
My biggest advice is to not worry about fitting into one of his training sessions mentioned on his website, I know I found it hard to pick which one I wanted. Have a conversation and Saurubh can lead you.
More information can be found on Saurubh:
Website: http://webelongeducation.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saurubh.malviya
Facebook We Belong Education: https://www.facebook.com/2WeBelong/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saurubh-malviya-a79a61153/