What is Fuse?
Fuse is all about being part of a community. It’s a project for Year 5 and up, where we explore what it means to be kind to and care for ourselves and others within a community.
How does Fuse work?
Fuse usually involves two workshops for each class.
Things we think about include: what drags us down and what lifts us up. Listening to one another. Being kind to ourselves and others, and how acts of kindness affect the way we feel about ourselves.
We discuss the decisions we make, the consequences of those decisions and the impact our choices and actions have on those around us, both positive and negative.
We explore the responsibilities of being part of a community, what positive role models look like, and the concept of being part of something bigger than just yourself.
What’s different about Fuse?
Like all our projects, Fuse is made up of lively, interactive workshops where the students get to contribute, express themselves and listen to one another – it’s not ‘teaching from the front’.
Fuse gives young people an opportunity to explore the notion of community and valuing each other, in a context that isn’t directly linked to school rules and behaviour.
Why is Fuse important?
Feeling part of a good community is important for young people for many reasons. Over the period of the pandemic, there has been a marked increase in children and young people reporting feelings of loneliness and isolation.
The peer group becomes extremely important as young people head into adolescence, but can often be a source of stress, with bullying (especially online), feeling left out, and the pressure to keep up socially becoming big issues. By discussing what makes a good community and helping children from Year 5 up to see their peer group as a team – a place they can exercise kindness and belong – we hope to prepare them to form better, healthier peer groups and communities marked by respect, kindness and valuing each person.
Finally, we think it’s important that young people raised in an individualistic culture and encouraged to focus on their own personal goals and dreams also have space to consider what it means to exist in a community – something bigger than just themselves. We’d like to see our young people grow up understanding the balance between rights and responsbilities.
