Welcome to the first episode of the School Plus Kids Podcast. In this episode host and School Plus Kids founder Arpana will explore the story of how School Plus Kids got started and the journey that led to the creation of the online membership platform. She will also introduce the five key areas of core life skills that School Plus Kids teaches through their masterclasses and that we will cover on the podcast. These are: growth mindset, emotional intelligence, money mindset for kids, entrepreneurship, and mindfulness.

Arpana's Story

Arpana's journey began in a supermarket with her 5-year-old daughter. She noticed young girls pouring over a magazine and realised how easily influenced young minds can be. She wanted her daughter to grow up with life skills rather than worrying about material things. She couldn't find anything, so she decided to create her own digital interactive magazine about growth mindset. After going viral, parents wanted a published version, but she didn't have the capacity at the time. During her maternity leave with her third child, she spent time working on ideas for the magazine. When the pandemic hit, she realised what skills her children were lacking from school and saw an opportunity to create School Plus Kids, an online membership with masterclasses that teaches children core life skills.

The Five Pillars of Core Life Skills

• Growth Mindset: The belief that your abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication, hard work, and a willingness to learn from mistakes. We will discuss how you can change from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, and how children with a growth mindset embrace challenges and persist in the face of obstacles.


• Emotional Intelligence: The ability to recognize and understand your own emotions, as well as other people's emotions. We will explore how emotional intelligence helps children control their emotions, empathise with others, and improve communication skills, mental wellbeing, and resilience.


• Money Mindset for Kids: Money mindset is the belief and attitudes that people have towards money. We will teach children about achieving goals, living a fulfilling life, critical thinking, giving back, and being responsible with money to give them a greater sense of control over their financial future.


• Entrepreneurship: We believe entrepreneurship is the biggest growing industry and helps children think differently and make choices about their future. It allows them to follow their passions and break boundaries early on.


• Mindfulness: Mindfulness is the practice of being present and fully engaged in the current moment without judgement or distraction. We will discuss how mindfulness gives children the ability to emotionally regulate and be fully aware of their thoughts, feelings, and surroundings.

The Podcast 

The School Plus Kids Podcast will cover all of these five pillars in depth, with some episodes being solo and others with guests and thought leaders in the space. If you are multitasking while listening to podcasts, don't worry, as each episode will have a downloadable cheat sheet for you to refer to. Join us on this journey of raising happy, healthy, and confident kids with School Plus Kids.

Resources: 

Episode transcript

Cheat Sheet 

Instagram: @schoolplus_kids 

Website: schoolpluskids.com