Inspector Independence

Once upon a time in a class at Devonshire Infant School there was a little boy. He had not been at school very long, but was really enjoying it! Today he was especially excited because the teacher said they were going to have PE. The tambourine jingled and all the children started to get changed. “Everybody needs to try and get dressed independently but I am here to help if you need it” she said.

The little boy just sat in his chair. He had never got changed by himself before. His grown ups had always done it for him at home!

As the little boy looked around the class he could see that some of the children needed a little bit of help, especially with buttons and doing up shoes. He wished someone would come and get him changed otherwise he was going to be really late for the lesson.

The teacher came over to him and asked why he wasn’t putting his PE kit on. The little boy just said “I need you to do it for me, it is too tricky to do myself!”

“Why don’t you have a go at taking your jumper off first and then I will help you if you need it!” the teacher suggested. “It is good to try and be independent”. But the little boy didn’t want to try, he knew it would be too tricky.

Soon the little boy started to feel worried. He could see all the other children getting ready and he was going to miss the lesson. He just couldn’t get changed by himself.

Suddenly the little boy realised he was the only child who wasn’t in his PE kit. He thought he was going to cry. Very slowly he tried to take his arm out of his jumper. It wasn’t as hard as he thought it was going to be! Then he took the other arm out…..now he just needed to get the jumper over his head. He pulled, but the jumper got stuck. ”Don’t worry” the teacher said “I will help you with that!” Once the jumper was off the little boy started to take his shoes and socks off and then the rest of his school clothes. He needed a little bit of help to put his PE kit on but soon he was changed like all the children. He felt really happy!

The next morning when the little boy was getting dressed for school he said to his mum “I am going to put my uniform on myself.” Mum was really surprised and so impressed with him. He did most of it by himself and mum helped with the buttons. Every morning from then on the little boy got ready for school independently.

The next week when the teacher said it was time for PE the little boy got changed by himself. He knew he could do it as he had been practising every day at home.

The little boy was the first one to be ready. The teacher asked the little boy to move his name up the rainbow. “You got changed all by yourself today” she said “You are Inspector Independence!” From that day on the little boy always tried everything on his own first, but knew if he got stuck there would always be someone to help him.