Faiy has had a longstanding relationship with MiSP of over a decade, starting with her own training in 2013, becoming a valued trainer in 2015 and starting her current role as Education and Pathways Development Manager in 2021.

Faiy has worked tirelessly to develop and launch The Pathways. She has also created the current wide-ranging skills workshops and a variety of flexible training models to increase accessibility to MiSP’s work. Her knowledge and skills are key to the fidelity of our trainings, enriching the training experience for everyone who joins the MiSP family and supporting them throughout their implementation journey. Just as MiSP encourages our trained teachers to know their children and young people and meet them where they are, so Faiy has been key in creating the Pathways so that they meet you where you are.

Alongside this work, Faiy initiated and co-developed mapping the MiSP curricula to the PSHE Association’s Programmes of Study and to the Curriculum for Wales. She has also spearheaded the Peace in Mind campaign for bringing mindfulness to all schools in Warrington, working closely with MiSP Ambassador Esther Ghey and Emma Mills.

Many of you will already be familiar with Faiy from trainings, skills workshops and through her representing MiSP in our online Speaker Events and other events across the country and worldwide. Recently she gave a presentation in person, alongside Esther Ghey, at the Mindfulness Initiative’s Westminster Education event, discussing how the work in Warrington meets the MiSP Pathways’ evidence-based framework.

As well as her deep understanding of MiSP’s vision, mission and needs and her commitment to the integrity of what we do, Faiy has a wealth of education, mindfulness and wellbeing experience, which, in combination with her leadership skills made her the natural choice for the role.

Faiy is a secondary teacher with Initial Teacher Training Lead experience, an MBSR-trained adult mindfulness teacher (Bangor CMRP), a mindfulness supervisor and a Specialist Leader of Education for Wellbeing and Inclusion, and in the last sixteen years has trained in a wide range of wellbeing curricula and practices; including mindfulness, trauma-informed practice in schools, positive psychology, growth mindsets, compassion plus emotional and academic resilience. She has also trained as a Forest School Leader and Nature Connection practitioner and has a passion for outdoor learning, both for its wellbeing and learning skills benefits.

Faiy worked in a wellbeing lead role in a secondary school for 6 years and since  then peripatetically in primary and secondary schools, teaching mindfulness and other wellbeing modalities to students, educators and senior leaders. This extensive experience and expertise resulted in her working for The Present for Schools, MiSP and LEAP online, delivering training on Wellbeing in Education and Mindfulness around Europe and further afield.

She has a passion for and experience of supporting schools in integrating meaningful wellbeing practice and policy across the whole school that meets Department for Education (DFE) recommendations, recognising that every member of the school community needs to be thriving for a school to perform at its’ best.

We are incredibly grateful to Faiy for taking on this role and excited to see where MiSP will go in her capable hands.

Working alongside Faiy, Elinor Brown will be taking the role of Head of Operations.

Elinor has also been connected with MiSP for over a decade, through her own training, becoming a highly respected trainer for MiSP since 2017 and supporting the charity’s operations on a freelance basis before joining the core team as Strategic Support Coordinator. She has also worked in a lead role with The Present courses CIC in recent years. Many of you will already be familiar with Elinor from trainings and other MiSP events.

Elinor brings extensive experience of mindfulness, education and wellbeing, as an adult MBSR teacher, trained with Bangor University CMRP, and through her work as a Wellbeing Lead in primary education.

As a Wellbeing Lead, she developed whole school approaches which included dots, Paws b, .breathe and The Present curricula, woven in with elements of the PSHE curriculum. She is also familiar with SEL interventions for individuals, including Zones of Regulation. She has experience of working with external agencies and internal wellbeing teams, individual children and small groups, as well as supporting parents, carers and education staff. She has followed the Anna Freud 5 Steps framework and developed school wellbeing policies  She has also worked peripatetically, as an external teacher, bringing MiSP curricula to primary schools.

With a clinical psychologist colleague, Elinor has offered mindfulness for adoptive parents through Coram Cambridgeshire Adoption and co-developed and co-led a programme for parents and carers combining Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with mindfulness. Elinor has also created and delivered workshops and resources for parents and carers to support children experiencing difficulties with sleep, worry, friendships and emotion regulation, and workshops for education staff to support their wellbeing and help them support children.

Elinor has experience of working in adult education, with the University of Cambridge, delivering mindfulness-based courses and workshops to students and staff.

Elinor trained in trauma-sensitive practice with David Treleaven. She has completed an introduction to counselling and has training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Non-violent Communication and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. She has participated in Compassionate Mind Training for education staff and students. She is also trained as a yoga teacher and has a love of mindful movement.

Before teaching mindfulness and working in education, Elinor worked in digital and broadcast media as a producer and managing editor and then ran her own self-employed business. She brings experience in project management, team leadership, marketing, web design, content creation, bookkeeping, maintaining standards and operational efficiency, and working with senior leaders.

She is passionate about maintaining MiSP’s high standards and supporting the charity to nurture individual and whole community wellbeing.

We hope you will join us in wishing them well.

The post Welcoming our new Executive Director and Head of Operations from September 2025 appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

It’s with a mixture of sadness and joy that we wish Ben well for September, when he will be leaving his role at MiSP, as Head of Education and Training, and taking his many qualities and skills back into school as a primary Headteacher.

Ben has been instrumental in shaping MiSP over the last 8 years, bringing a wealth of education and mindfulness experience to the charity, as well as his energy, creativity, leadership skills, care and humour. He will be leaving an incredible legacy, including the wonderful dots curriculum, the redevelopment of Paws b and co-developing .begin.

Many of you may have met him in trainings, at information webinars, practice groups, retreats and other support events, and benefitted firsthand from his knowledge and qualities.

Behind the scenes, Ben has been key to creating a culture and training approach that enables us all to feel that we can show up as ourselves in the way we offer the learning, which is so key to authenticity and integrity in mindfulness teaching and training and has been incredibly supportive for us as teachers and trainers.

Ben has also been key in supporting our International Partners, building valued relationships and helping MiSP spread our charitable aims across the globe.

We will miss him deeply. At the same time, we are thrilled for him and know he will be a gift to his new school. We are looking forward to staying in touch and hearing how he gets on.

I am sure you will join us in thanking him and wishing him well

The post A farewell with huge gratitude to Ben Chalwin  appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

Supporting you as you develop your personal mindfulness practice

The stage of development, following an eight week course, where you continue to develop your personal mindfulness practice, can feel a bit isolated if we don’t have other people around us who practice. It’s also a period of time where we might want to build on the changes and benefits we have already begun to experience in the way we relate to ourselves, our life and our work.

With this in mind, we have developed two new Skills Workshops that support Step 2 of the Pathways framework. These workshops, being initially run in July, are a taster of the further resources which will be coming in the Autumn.  They will continue to help you examine the role mindfulness has to play in supporting you at work, in communication and relationships, and provide a starting point for bringing mindful approaches to working with children and young people. We recognise that this is a key area of development for people wishing to train to teach the MiSP curricula and hope that the content explored in these workshops, alongside the existing Hub Practice group sessions and One Day Retreat, will provide further opportunities for personal practice reflection, connection and sharing.

The launch of other support materials for Step 2 will be on their way this Autumn! And watch out for more Skills workshops coming soon!

What are the steps on the Pathways?

Step 1 – Explore mindfulness

From today, you can start your Pathways journey or simply register your interest in the following ways:

1. Request a free Starter Resources pack, which contains all the information and resources you need to learn more about mindfulness and how to introduce it to your school or setting.
2. Request a free pre-recorded Information Webinar or book a bespoke Information Webinar for your setting. Both will explain what mindfulness is and isn’t, explore the research into potential benefits, the steps to bringing mindfulness to your school or setting and an opportunity to find out if .begin, our 8-week introductory mindfulness course, is right for you.
3. Book onto a .breathe course and learn to introduce our mindfulness-based wellbeing programme to support transition (to ages 9-14 years).
4. Find a local .b Foundations teacher to deliver a Taster for your setting.

Find out more about Step 1

Steps 2-5

Launching one step at a time with Step 2 coming in Autumn 2023:

• Step 2 – Introduce mindfulness to staff (through staff individually or collectively completing a recognised 8-week course) or straight away to students (via booking an external MiSP-trained teacher to deliver the student curricula)
• Step 3 – Develop a model for mindfulness taught in-house to students, and build a community to share coordination of mindfulness initiatives
• Step 4 – Embed mindfulness learning and approaches throughout the setting where appropriate
• Step 5 – Sustain and Share, further ensuring your mindfulness approaches are as sustainable as possible and can also be shared with and inspire others through becoming a MiSP ‘Beacon School/Setting/Trust.

Why approach mindfulness in this way?

Since 2009, MiSP has had the privilege of working with a wide variety of schools, other educational settings, Local Educational Authorities and Multi-Academy-Trusts, helping them to support the wellbeing

The post Pathways Step 2 – coming in the Autumn! appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

A project to promote mindfulness for Japanese children has been taking place in Japan for a number of years now, launched by Michiko Ashitani (Professor of Shiga University, Clinical psychologist, MBSR Teacher), Yashi Ito (Physicians, Certified MBSR Teacher Trainer) and Kazumi Yamamoto (Clinical psychologist, Certified MBSR Teacher Trainer).

Read all about the project below or watch this audio-visual summary:

The beginning of our journey

Our project’s aim is to introduce programs such as “.b”, verify their effectiveness, and then disseminate them to Japanese children in collaboration with Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP).

This journey (and the team’s origins) began in 2016 when Michiko, interested in introducing mindfulness to Japanese children, picked up an eraser dropped by Yashi, .b teacher, at a psychosomatic medicine workshop! To help a small number of .b Japanese teachers trained in the UK at that time, a Japanese translation of Teachers’ Notes was started with the assistance of some 20 MBSR graduates trained by Kazumi and Yashi.

2019-2022

2019 was a momentous year. MiSP offered us an opportunity to hold a Teach .b programme for Japanese teachers. But first, we felt it important to verify the effectiveness of the programme in Japan. Therefore, we decided to conduct a .b study in Japanese schools after the initial Teach .b programme.

2020 was supposed to be the first year of Teach .b in Japan and the start of the study. So all the existing Japanese translations, including slides and animations, had been professionally upgraded, awaiting a visit by MiSP’s then-representative, Claire, to Japan. And you can guess what happened… the COVID-19 pandemic changed our plan.

In 2021, we received additional training from senior MiSP-trained trainers and conducted Teach .b in August, with assistance from MiSP trainers from the UK.

Similarly, we conducted Teach .b in August of 2022 with the assistance of Faiy and Ben at MiSP.

Participants’ comments included:

• “I am very happy to have the opportunity to learn this wonderful programme… I can’t believe it was just 4 days. This intense program taught me the importance of connecting with children and the potential of mindfulness.”
• “I have been waiting for this programme since 2017 and am so glad to be able to attend the course finally. The content was outstanding. I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your efforts in organising this program. I will work out the ways to reach the youth who will create the future.”

Positive outcomes

Our team would like to thank MiSP and all the teachers who kindly assisted us. To date, 334 children from 15 schools and educational facilities across Japan have participated in the programme. Preliminary analysis confirmed the effectiveness of the programme, including decreases in depression and stress, and wellbeing improvements.

Children who took part in the programme commented:

• “I feel calmer and more broadened.”
• “I came across mindfulness and learned how to calm myself down and feel less stressed.”
• “I get less upset in a challenging situation during a baseball game.”
• “I try it in class, and it helps me focus, so it’s so good!”
• “I am gradually becoming able to concentrate when I feel like it.”
• “I am now able to look at mistakes positively and take on the next challenge.”
• “I am able to sleep very relaxed after beditation every day.”

What’s next in Japan?

While we are pleased about this progress, the level of recognition and understanding of the programme among educators is still low. With schools busy implementing the fixed and packed national curriculum and the primary emphasis on school education being academic achievement, it feels there is little space for a program like .b. But we believe there are opportunities. The evidence suggests that mindfulness may support achievement directly and indirectly by providing children with a safe, secure, and comfortable environment in which to flourish. We hope to establish further evidence with new approaches so that more schools will incorporate mindfulness into Japanese school settings.

To this end, we created the Mindfulness for Children’s Project (MfCP) in Japan. Through the website, .b Teachers can obtain various resources, share and discuss their activities and conduct group work. We are also piloting a “.b club” where children who have participated in .b can get together to continue their practices.

In the next year, we will be able to analyse data from the above-mentioned study involving more than 300 Japanese children, which we plan to publish. We also plan to translate “.breathe”, “Paws b”, and “Dots” materials, train instructors, implement the programs, and evaluate their effectiveness in collaboration with MiSP.

We are all excited about what this journey will bring about and where it will take us.

If you’d like to discuss how MiSP can help you bring mindfulness to your school or setting (wherever you are in the world), please get in touch.

The post A Journey of Mindfulness for Japanese Children with MiSP appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

Blog by Faiy Rushton, Education and Training Development Manager

Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) is excited to announce the launch of ‘The Pathways’ model, a framework designed to help individuals, schools and educational settings explore the benefits of mindfulness and clearly see the extent of MiSP’s potential support.

‘The Pathways’ model is aimed at teachers and school staff, parents, youth workers, and others working with or caring for children. It offers a structured yet flexible training and support route. The Pathways journey starts with learning mindfulness for personal wellbeing and then progressing through the steps to become a qualified teacher of mindfulness for children and young people. It will enable you to introduce mindfulness in an age-appropriate way through MiSP’s various curricula and, ultimately for those interested, become a School Mindfulness Lead and even a MiSP Beacon School or Trust.

The framework can also help create or support a bespoke organisation-wide approach to mindfulness, tailored to meet the needs of each individual setting.

What are the steps?

Step 1 – Explore mindfulness

From today, you can start your Pathways journey or simply register your interest in the following ways:

1. Request a free Starter Resources pack, which contains all the information and resources you need to learn more about mindfulness and how to introduce it to your school or setting.
2. Request a free pre-recorded Information Webinar or book a bespoke Information Webinar for your setting. Both will explain what mindfulness is and isn’t, explore the research into potential benefits, the steps to bringing mindfulness to your school or setting and an opportunity to find out if .begin, our 8-week introductory mindfulness course, is right for you.
3. Book onto a .breathe course and learn to introduce our mindfulness-based wellbeing programme to support transition (to ages 9-14 years).
4. Find a local .b Foundations teacher to deliver a Taster for your setting.

Find out more about Step 1

Steps 2-5

Launching one step at a time over the next few months:

• Step 2 – Introduce mindfulness to staff (through staff individually or collectively completing a recognised 8-week course) or straight away to students (via booking an external MiSP-trained teacher to deliver the student curricula)
• Step 3 – Develop a model for mindfulness taught in-house to students, and build a community to share coordination of mindfulness initiatives
• Step 4 – Embed mindfulness learning and approaches throughout the setting where appropriate
• Step 5 – Sustain and Share, further ensuring your mindfulness approaches are as sustainable as possible and can also be shared with and inspire others through becoming a MiSP ‘Beacon School/Setting/Trust.

Why approach mindfulness in this way?

Since 2009, MiSP has had the privilege of working with a wide variety of schools, other educational settings, Local Educational Authorities and Multi-Academy-Trusts, helping them to support the wellbeing and mental health of both young people and adults who work within them, as well as the broader community of families, governing bodies, other service providers and volunteers who support those schools.

We have collated examples of successful implementation of mindfulness-based initiatives and key learning from where things have not quite gone to plan. The Pathways approach has evolved out of this rich learning.

The benefits of ‘The Pathways’ model include a clear but flexible structure, expert support, tried and tested resources, and a collaborative model that encourages participation from staff and students.

Ultimately, our goal is to empower schools and communities to bring mindfulness to the heart of educational life, supporting individual and community wellbeing.

We welcome feedback and the Pathways framework has been designed to evolve in response to our community’s needs.

If you have any questions or further ideas for development, please contact enquiries@mindfulnessinschools.org.

Join us on this journey by exploring ‘The Pathways’ today

The post Introducing ‘The Pathways’ Model: A Mindfulness Approach to Wellbeing in Schools appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

Just as we were about to press send on our latest newsletter, the sad news of the death of Ruth Perry, headteacher of Caversham Primary School in Reading (UK), hit the media. Our thoughts are clearly first and foremost with Ruth’s family, friends, colleagues and pupils at this distressing time.

It has also brought to the fore questions that have been mulling through my mind ever since taking on the role of CEO at MiSP.

Mindfulness and our work clearly do not exist in a vacuum. Whilst it would not be appropriate to comment on the details of this particular case, I know from much of your feedback, as well as from former teaching colleagues, friends and family members working in classrooms up and down the country (and overseas), these are challenging times for educators.

As a mum to a 14-year-old, I also know these can be tough times also for parents as we do our best – like teachers – to support and guide our young people. As the educationalist, Ken Robinson, used to say, “Our last great natural human resource”.

When pressures on teachers and young people appear to be ever increasing – amplified by the cumulative implications of Covid restrictions and the aftermath – is it a coincidence that our own and those of our young people’s mental health are also under pressure?

What is the role of mindfulness in amongst the multitude of challenges children and young people, and those supporting and caring for them face right now? Whether it is the pressure to reach targets, the cost of living squeeze, navigating social media and a loss of real-life interactions, knife crime and violence (including on the global stage), eco-anxiety in the face of frightening predictions about climate breakdown, the loss of ecosystems and habitats that have been part of linking humanity also to the beauty and solace of nature and ‘something bigger’, not to mention increasing inequalities and real discrimination many face due to their (ethnic, gender, sexual etc) identities. It’s a lot.

Of course challenges (and joys) have existed throughout millennia. Right now, could it be that we hear about and feel them more acutely given the information on tap and surrounding us via our smartphones and across globalised media? Yes, we can probably add that to the list of challenges too.

I realise that part of my commitment to attempting to live more mindfully is to try not to add to the noise and to not share opinions for the sake of it. Also, as the comedian Paul Merton pragmatically said, “If each of us shares our thoughts all the time, won’t the impact be that we simply cancel one another out?” But every now and then, events take over. Another voice inside reminds me that being silent can also unintentionally signal being complicit. With leadership comes responsibility and also power (to speak out).

My work in the charitable sector over the last 25 years has had one primary motivation: to be part of a movement to contribute to healthy societal change. Joining MiSP just over 18 months ago was an acknowledgement that change is not only about the big issues looming above us but also about how we care for and manage our own responses and those of others around us.  The tragic circumstances around the death of Ruth Perry are a reminder to me that it also personally continues to be about being part of a movement to contribute to healthy societal change, to raise the alarm when things appear to be out of balance and take me back to the questions I have been mulling over since arriving at MiSP:

• What conditions need to be in place in our lives and the lives of the children and educationalists we serve for mindfulness and optimum wellbeing to be nurtured?
• What is MiSP’s role and the collective role of our community when these conditions may come under threat?
• How can mindfulness help us navigate these times and allow us to show up and speak the courage of our convictions?
• How can the attitudes of mindfulness – generosity, patience, trust, gratitude, to name a few – support us all, even when times are toughest?

I don’t have all the answers and I’m learning that that is also OK. The times we live in don’t necessarily have simple answers.

What I do have, and offer this precious community of ours, is a commitment to our children and to you doing the sterling work on their behalf, and the potential role of mindfulness to support. I also have a voice on behalf of our organisation and those we work with. At times, I’m beginning to realise perhaps the most mindful/compassionate response is to speak out.

It is my sincere hope that the support we offer to sustain your mindfulness practice and your teaching will help you and the children you work with navigate these times, and if it is right in your context, have the courage of your convictions to speak your truth. With your help, we can also involve others (please see the ‘Ways of supporting MiSP online’ piece in this newsletter) and if you have thoughts on any of the questions above, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Whatever the details and nuances surrounding Ruth Perry’s death, there is one thing I’m sure we are all in agreement on: the wellbeing of children and young people and those working with them is precious, fragile and worth investing in.

This opinion piece was shared in MiSP’s recent newsletters (one to our trained teacher community; another to our supporters who may not yet have had the chance to train fully with us).  To sign up to the general mailing list and receive future newsletters, please click here.  For any MiSP trained teachers who haven’t received the latest newsletter, please get in touch to be added to the trained teacher mailing list.

The post Reflections on the news this week appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

There are many apparent paradoxes in mindfulness practice. You are being asked to apply yourself but without trying too hard; you have to learn to get out of the way of yourself; surely there must be a reason for doing it, but you are told not to have a goal.

When you are bringing mindfulness into the classroom there are similar paradoxes. It seems to me, this is especially true if you are working with adolescents in secondary education, the focus of this piece. For healthy evolutionary reasons, this group is learning to question what ‘adults’ are telling them. They are very unlikely to give us a second chance; if we don’t engage them quickly, we may lose them.

To hold the attention of teenagers, mindfulness has to begin by being playful, intriguing, even fun. They are likely to push back if they feel it is being forced on them, so we have to hold it lightly and not take it too seriously; on the other hand they have to feel like it has a point. To add to the challenge, what might be playful and fun for some, may not be so at all for others.

The importance of play and fun

That mindfulness in schools should firstly be playful and fun is an important, even foundational principle, and I sometimes wonder if we have drifted away from this slightly in the field. We have become obsessed with measuring things because we want to prove that ‘they work’. If we were using mindfulness in the classroom as a clinical or therapeutic intervention, then it could make sense to use similar metrics to those used when assessing Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) or Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), but that is not what we are setting out to do. As quoted in Barry Boyce’s helpful mindful.org piece, using those metrics to measure whether mindfulness in the classroom ‘works’ is like trying to measure gas with a slide rule. What we are trying to do is to sow seeds. We are dipping teens’ toes in the waters of mindfulness in ways which are playful – sometimes fun, sometimes calming, sometimes silly, sometimes deeper – but broadly speaking they experience mindfulness as something which is, at the very least, ‘okay’.

Knowing there is a ‘parachute’

When describing his pioneering work in MBSR at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Jon Kabat-Zinn famously describes regular mindfulness practice as “weaving the parachute” so that when things go wrong and you begin to fall, it catches you. For some children and young people, it may do this, but for others we at least want them to know that there is a parachute, that mindfulness has value as something they or their friends might return to.

What we mustn’t do, however, is force them to wear the parachute when they really don’t want to! In the classroom, we have seen teachers putting teens off mindfulness, albeit with the best of intentions, when their pupils feel like it is being forced on them. Perhaps because mindfulness has grown and become more acceptable in mainstream culture, I wonder if we sometimes lose sight of this. It is not for everyone. It will not be every pupil’s choice of parachute, so making sure that mindfulness practices in the classroom remain invitational, playful, even fun, is a basic principle that we mustn’t lose sight of. Similarly, let’s remember that the mindfulness practice of ourselves, the teacher, may offer the biggest impact on the relationship and learning of the child, regardless of whether the individual is receptive to the teaching of specific mindfulness skills.

Diversity of mindfulness experience

Mindfulness comes in many different shapes and sizes. Certain principles can be taught via movement, via listening, via eating, via clapping your hands, scrunching your face or stamping your feet. But as Joseph Goldstein often reminds us: “If you want to understand the mind, sit down and observe it”. We sit quietly. We watch. We see what happens. And in the same way that mindfulness practice can deepen when we try less hard, we sometimes find that a classroom practice, even if begun lightly and playfully, can end up becoming a more sustained period of inner- stillness. And these are the moments we have to take seriously.

This may be less so in the afternoon. In my experience, longer periods of stillness in afternoon lessons are usually characterised by heads on desks and serious sleepiness; there can be a ‘sleeping lions’ feel to it, with even the higher energy and more boisterous of adolescents welcoming an opportunity just to stop.

But more typically in morning lessons, when your audience is typically brighter-eyed and more alert, even a short practice beautifully led, held playfully and lightly, may not be experienced in that way by everyone in the class. If it develops into a more sustained period of stillness then your pupils may begin to let go a little. For most, I would say the significant majority, this is a good letting go. It is a dropping of shoulders, a lengthening of breath, a loosening of tension, an unwinding and uncoiling of knots.

But for a few it might be a letting go of walls they have built to protect themselves, a removal of distractions they have needed, an opening into silences that quickly fill with worry and fear. Even if it happens infrequently, if we are taking our playful practices seriously, we know this is a possibility. We are reading the room as we guide and we are spotting the signs: the fidgeting, the doodling, the unsettled gaze, the awkwardness with being still. Of course, this might be fine – an attention-deficit diagnosed or otherwise – but what if it isn’t? What if that child is actually struggling, even in a short practice?

As we teach on our trainings, there are many ways to handle this. The chances are that if you have read up to this point in my article, you probably know them already. Fundamentally, it is about seeing your teaching as sitting within the safeguarding context of the school. Formally, this means checking in with your DSL before you teach so that you know who might be at risk; informally, this might mean checking in with relevant colleagues, form teachers or tutors who might know this group better than you.

If you know who to keep an eye on, you can usually tell how they are finding a practice by reading their gaze and their body language. You can then give ‘outs’ and ‘exits’ accordingly. Even knowing that they don’t have to ‘do’ the practice, and can fidget, doodle, sway or sleep to their heart’s content is often enough.

Giving all children an introduction

This all sounds very serious, as well it should. But if we are leading practices lightly and playfully, and if there is a good rapport with the children sitting in front of us, I would guess that for every one or two who might struggle a little and need options, there will be many more who have a little swim in the shallows of mindfulness and make their choices. For all children, we will have at least introduced them to the idea of mindfulness and given them a taste. We know from feedback over the years, that many come back to it one day, but equally we’ve learned it is important not to take it personally if it’s just not their thing.

The post Seriously Playing appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

The programme was delivered by Gerry Rickard, who trained to teach Paws b earlier this year and completed a Masters in Mindfulness-Based Teaching at Bangor University.

In this blog, you’ll hear all about the school, Gerry’s experience and feedback on the course.

About Southern Cross Academy

Southern Cross Academy is a small school in the town of Vilanculos on the Indian Ocean which was set up as a foundation around fifteen years ago and is funded by school fees and donations. With less than thirty pupils between the ages of 6 and 12, the school caters for both local and ex-pat children and follows the UK curriculum. The curriculum is mainly taught through topics and the children are encouraged to share their viewpoints, question and explore.

The school also fosters an ethos in which the children are like a ‘family’ and are encouraged to look after and respect each other and their natural environment. Older children act as role models for the younger ones and are given special responsibilities.

Teaching Paws b at Southern Cross

Paws b was taught in two separate groups – one for those aged 7-9 and another for older children up to 11 years old – over 12 weeks.

I loved the interaction with the kids, especially the younger group, who really got involved. It’s amazing how much they remember on a week-to-week basis. Having only had experience teaching mindfulness to adults, giving a Paws b course was so refreshing. The course itself is fantastic – with all the themes from the adult eight-week courses wonderfully contained in this programme. It was so cool to sit and lead a group of children in a meditation practice. – Gerry

Southern Cross Academy Head, Megan Gotine, was happy to have given the children the opportunity to learn Paws b:

The Paws b programme was such a wonderful opportunity for our children. It is linked closely with the ‘Growth Mindset’ that we strongly encourage all the children to develop. It was fascinating to watch how they responded to the mindfulness practices and to hear their ideas during the discussions with Gerry. They have developed a good understanding of how different parts of the brain function and how they link with our feelings and behaviours.

We are very grateful to Gerry for delivering this programme at the school, and feel privileged to be the first school in Mozambique to experience Paws b! We will be continuing some of the practices with the children, and would also love to have Gerry back to deliver more sessions. Thank you, Gerry and Mindfulness in Schools! – Megan

Learn to teach Paws b

The post Spotlight on Paws b in Mozambique appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

Emily will be joining us in September 2021 from her role as CEO and co-founder of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA), a charity and coalition of 100+ UK organisations working to ensure all women across the UK have access to quality care and support for their mental health during pregnancy and in the year following childbirth, where she has worked for the past 10 years. Prior to this, she worked for over 12 years in a variety of NGOs in their education and campaigns departments both in an employed and consultancy capacity including ActionAid, Save the Children, Common Purpose, Newham Conflict and Change and the Institute of Education following the completion of her PGCE in Citizenship Education and previously a spell as a civil servant at the Charity Commission.

Emily has long been interested in contemplative and mindfulness practices and is currently a part-time student of Aberdeen university’s Mindfulness Studies MSc. She is excited to be able to combine this passion, with her experience of working with schools and supporting movements for change, in her new role at MiSP. A linguist (with her first degree in Russian Studies), Emily has been fortunate to study / work / teach a year at a time in Russia, Switzerland and Japan. After almost 20 years living in Tottenham, North London, she now lives and works from Lewes, East Sussex, with her Anglo-Italian family and young dog, ‘Gino’.

Emily succeeds our outgoing CEO Chivonne Preston who has presided over a period of significant challenge in the sector and to whom the Board extends their deep thanks.

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As an insurance broker, our role goes beyond just helping schools get the right levels of cover in place and policies that will respond when they need them, we are also committed to helping support health and wellbeing.

With our staff absence cover you get access to a range of tools to help and support your school, including our industry leading Health and Wellbeing Hub, which provides an Employee Assistance Program and wellness support for staff in your school environment. Some of the benefits included are 24/7 helpline, structured telephone counselling and face to face counselling, Occupational Health helpline, physical wellness checks, as well as access a range of self-help tools and the My Healthy Advantage app.

It can help your school with its Duty of Care to employees and assist members of staff who may be struggling – ensuring they improve or maintain their mental and physical health could result in reducing staff absence.

According to the Mental Health Foundation, 74% of UK adults have been so stressed at some point in the last year they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope. This is also reflected in the figures from our Employee Assistance Programme, which show that since April 2020 we recorded a high volume of calls, 89% of which were ‘Counselling’ related.

32.4% of overall counselling engagement were telephone-based counselling sessions to help with Anxiety, with spikes in November 2020 and in March 2021, which were potentially the result of restrictions being lifted and individuals returning to work.

Our Employee Assistance Programme is completely confidential and, as we can see from the findings above, this service is more important than ever to support staff wellbeing.

Insurance cover for your schools’ needs

We have focused on the complex insurance requirements of the UK education sector for over 25 years.

Our expertise in this sector has been established through years of working closely with education clients to understand their needs and has enabled us to provide a one-stop offering to schools and colleges for their insurance and risk management requirements.

The right cover to protect your school

We understand that obtaining the right cover for your school can be a time-consuming process. We’re here to help you identify any gaps in cover and compare policies, making it easier for you to determine what cover best suits your school’s unique requirements.

Other insurances we can arrange for you:

• Property
• Business Interruption
• Cyber Liability
• Employers Liability
• Public Liability
• Professional Indemnity
• Governors’ / Directors’ Liability
• Fidelity and Crime/Fraud
• Legal Expenses/Employment Protection
• Motor and Occasional Business Use
• Annual Travel
• Engineering Inspection and insurance

To find out more about what we do, and how our wellbeing programme could benefit your school, please call our education specialist Jo on 01438 739 626 or email joanne.taylor@towergate.co.uk

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