SCHOOL COUNSELLING

The preschool provides a social setting for children where they meet with the concept of school, experience a learning environment with rules, be away from their parents and interact with peers and other adults, as well as discover and present their limitations and talents.

In preschool, students gradually take important steps to become self-sufficient, responsible and distinctive individuals with the close attention and directives of their teachers.

This is a period where we can observe children’s physical, cognitive, social and emotional changes at a very fast pace. Naturally, how and how fast the children experience these changes in their developmental areas differ according to their personal differences.

Our counselling department is based on a developmental, holistic and preventive understanding; we take the characteristics of the age group of the children and their individual needs when we carry out our activities. Efforts made to support growth during this period rather than at later stages of development are more likely to show permanently effective results. Accordingly, yearly plans are prepared where we take the children’s needs and their developmental characteristics into consideration. Informative, educational activities are planned for parents in order to ensure that our students gain basic skills that they need in life.

Goals to support our students:

• To realise their individual characteristics and to improve their talents
• To improve their self-confidence and positive self-perception
• To recognise their emotions, to express themselves in a proper way and have the skill to regulate their emotions
• To protect their limits, to respect others’ limits, and to act according to rules
• To gain problem solving and efficient communication skills
• To develop positive social skills and establish meaningful relationships based on respect
• To improve their cognitive skills and actively participate in the learning process
• To gain autonomy and take on responsibilities
• To improve their readiness for primary school.

As the counselling service, we believe in working with the support and cooperation of the parents and we carry out our work in accordance with these goals. In order to support the children’s development, the cooperation of everyone who is involved in the interaction directly or indirectly is taken into account. The working principle rests on mutual trust, solidarity and positive communication between the school administration, teachers, parents and the counsellor. With this goal in mind, in order to ensure cooperation between the school and parents, in addition to parent meetings, we organise parent education seminars presented by hosting experts in the field or by our own team in accordance to the students’ developmental, academic, social and emotional needs.

Our students move onto the next step in their education having been prepared for the primary school with individual, emotional, social and academic support, and with various counselling activities.

In Grades 1 – 4 there are four counselors who deliver a coordinated program and offer a range of services. As Enka Schools Counseling Department, our mission in the primary school is to provide developmental and preventive counseling services focusing on personal and intellectual development. The counseling program at our school is available to help students, parents and teachers develop positive learning experiences.

ENKA Schools Counseling Department aims to provide developmental and preventative counseling in terms of its approach and content.

Our aim is to help the students:

• Discover themselves
• Develop a healthy self-concept
• Demonstrate respect for himself/herself and others
• Develop socially, emotionally, cognitively and physically
• Develop strategies and habits to solve personal problems
• Develop in line with their interests and abilities.

The main services of a school counselor are to provide direct assistance to students in the school. For this reason, a major portion of the counselor’s day is scheduled with the students. By working closely with classroom teachers, school counselors identify the developmental needs of students and plan appropriate classroom activities to address these needs.

Student progress is followed closely through regular meetings. Thanks to the decisions made in collaboration with teachers, it is aimed to maximize student’s development in all areas. Information sessions and group activities are held on various issues with a view to helping teachers.

Through close cooperation with parents (parent conferences), the Counseling Department aims to enhance student development in all areas.

Every year the Counseling Department organizes regular Parent Education Programs and provides reference lists and related materials and sample activities:

• Presentation on preadolescence
• Learning and mental processes.

The Counseling Department takes part in ENKA Schools’ student enrollment process. The school counselor has an important role in the interview of candidate students and their parents.

Middle School years are rapid and incalculable times where students experience adolescence concerns and leave their childish hurry and games behind. Of course, both pace and way of living developmental changes of that age gorup depends on student’s individual differences.

Our counseling department has a developmental and a preventive counseling understanding and we apply our activities by taking into account our students’ individual needs and related developmental characteristics.

Students are assisted to develop:

• Self-awareness
• Positive self-image
•  Effective study skills
• Decision-making skills
• Problem solving and communication skills.

Student advisory system – which we started this year, supports activities that aim developing problem solving and communication skills. The committee prepares advisory content and teachers share the content with their students in an interactive way.

Turkey Family Health and Planning Foundation (TAPV) organizes student and parent conferences in order to raise awareness about physical-sexual development – which is one of the most important developmental processes of the adolescence period – and to support heatlhy development of the students.

We host guest speakers to support parents’ healthy communication with their kids and to help parents get reliable information about their development. Counceling department organizes seminars by taking into consideration parent needs.

Students explore their interests, skills and values during middle school years. This process provides them with important clues about their future job. We organize Career Day every year to help students make informed choices.

Psychological Counseling and Guidance Department realizes the importance of the cooperation with parents and students. Our aim is to ensure a good communication. The department has the principle of reciprocal confidence between counselor and student.

Through our developmental guidance approach we ensure that all students adapt to middle school and prepare for high school by providing academic, personal, emotional and social support.

Our department embraces and employs a developmental and preventative guidance approach. To achieve this, we prepare yearly plans providing informative and educational activities helping students acquire basic life skills. This planning takes into consideration the developmental characteristics and needs of our students.

Our program is organized around the following themes:

• Knowing and expressing oneself
• Defining feelings
• Making connections between behavior and feelings or thoughts
• Gaining effective study skills
• Setting goals and realizing them
• Evaluating the consequences of choices.

Students develop skills in active communication, decision-making, problem-solving, and conflict resolution. Student Advisory programme that we started this year and the related committee prepares advisory content and teachers share the content with their students in an interactive way.

Turkey Family Health and Planning Foundation (TAPV) organizes student and parent conferences in order to raise awareness about physical-sexual development – which is one of the most important developmental processes of the adolescence period – and to support heatlhy development of the students.

The counseling and guidance department work closely with Turkish Universities counselor and OCCO team and plans career counseling activities.

Individual parent meetings are held to support students’ personal development and establish home-school cooperation. Through analysis of student needs we organize relevant seminars for students and parents presented by specialists.