Having delivered the Paws b programme at Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontybrenin during the Summer term in 2021, Mrs Naomi Beynon, deputy headteacher at Bishopston Primary School, expressed an interest in introducing this programme at her school; her children were pupils at Pontybrenin and had they had benefited greatly from the course so she was keen to implement it at Bishopston.

After discussions with Naomi and Mr John Owen, the headteacher, it was agreed I’d deliver the Paws b curriculum to all KS2 classes Years 3 to 6, and to the KS2 Specialist Teaching Facility, as a self-employed mindfulness teacher.

Bishopston Primary were already doing informal mindfulness sessions themselves using various resources gathered from the internet but were keen to develop this work further. They also have a very strong school ethic that health and well-being underpins everything they do and is the most important thing in order to deliver best results. The school, staff and students were familiar with the concept and given this ethic, it was an absolute pleasure to work beside them. They also do a lot of outdoor learning sessions which is brilliant given the convenience of the school to the Gower coastline and its beaches.

Covid-19 was still around but didn’t lead to any school closures therefore we were able to have the continuity of lessons, with the exception of Christmas holidays and me being off sick one week.

This was the first time I delivered the Paws b curriculum in English, having taught it in Welsh previously. I had learnt a lot from my previous teaching sessions and decided to make the classes more interactive and everything done verbally as a class as opposed to doing any worksheets, pair work or group work. This enabled us all to explore pupils’ and teachers’ thoughts and feelings more, and also enabled us to link parts of the Paws b curriculum to work they had already done in the classroom e.g. snowball effect. These moments of discussion also enabled the class teachers to identify times where these practices might be useful for them as a class and we had some wonderful stories come from this; Year 5 went on a school trip to the National Botanical Gardens of Wales and decided to have a mindful moment when they were in the Tropical House.

They listened to the water running and even noticed birds tweeting – they wouldn’t have known they were there normally had they not stopped and noticed, and it definitely enriched their experience.

This was the first time I had taught a group of children with additional learning needs. Before I started, I had a chat with Mrs Michelle Bennett, KS2 STF teacher, to see how best I could deliver it given the pupils’ needs. We decided it would be best to deliver the same 30-minute session I give Years 3 and 4 over a 45-minute class, allowing time to repeat key points. The feedback we’ve had from the classroom assistants, pupils and parents has been amazing. The children who looked like they weren’t taking anything in were seen using the mindfulness practices independently during class. Michelle shared the practices with some parents so they had an understanding of what the children were doing.

The children have absolutely loved the sessions, have been so engaging and made my time there truly magical.

Bishopston Feedback

Pupils

• “It helps me calm down when I am feeling hyper after playing football in the yard.” Yr 3
• “I do it when I am feeling worried about my dad being away with work.” – Yr 3
• “I like the five finger breathing and I do it when I am feeling cross to calm me down.” – Yr 3
• “Ten out of ten” – Yr 4
• “It’s relaxing.” – Yr 6
• “It calms my brain.” – Yr 6
• “It makes me feel tired.” – Yr 6
• “It helps me de-stress.” – Yr 6
• “It has taught me which part of my brain does what.” – Yr 6
• “It helps me with my work, when I need to do activities.” – Yr 6
• “It makes me feel loose.” – Yr 6
• “It clears my mind.” – Yr 6
• “It’s helpful. It makes me concentrate more.” – Yr 6
• “It makes me feel free.” – Yr 6
• “It helps me fall asleep at home; I do the finger breathing.” – Yr 6
• “I enjoy it, but I find it hard to keep still.” – Yr 6
• “Our favourite practice has been the mindful mouthful.” – Yr 6
• “Mrs Owen, is this our last session? I’m going to cry when it is.” – (Specialist Teaching Facility – STF)
• “When I’m in my bubble, I feel like I’m high in the sky on my fluffy cloud, floating and being happy.” – Yr 5
• “Peaceful.”
• “Joyful.”
• “Ah! So that’s why I lose my temper!” – Yr 5
• “Mindfulness is amazing.” – Yr 5
• “Hapus!” – STF
• “When I do mindfulness, I go to the beach and I am happy.” – Yr 5
• “I do the practices during gymnastics so that I don’t fall and I can be at my best.” – Yr 4
• “When I was in bed, everything was quiet in the house. My thoughts started getting carried away thinking my parents had left me home alone, but then I noticed this thought was made up and wasn’t true, and I stopped worrying.” – Yr 4

Parents

• “Our daughter loves it! She is often teaching us different breathing techniques, she confidently uses the finger breathing to calm herself down and will tell us “don’t talk to me yet, I’m doing my breathing!” She also enjoys it when we sit for a quiet few minutes in the garden listening to birds or watching a bug, no doubt this has been helped by all your work in school. Thank you for showing them how to develop such a life enhancing skill.” – (Year 3)
• “We have been using the breathing technique opening and closing his hands and focusing on breathing when he gets angry. Also going up and down his fingers breathing. We have found them both very positive and it seems to calm him down quicker than usual. Thanks so much.” – (Year 3)
• “Our son uses mindfulness to stop himself feeling sick in the car. We talk a lot about mindfulness at home. We did have a chat about flight and fight the other day and his sister knew a lot about the subject. I was really impressed!” – (Year 5 and 3)

Teachers

• • “It has helped me as a classroom teacher to vary my practice with the class.” – Year 3
  • “We now use mindfulness as a part of the class routine.” – Year 3
  • “Pupils will ask if we can do it, especially during wet play days etc.” – Year 3
  • “Lots of parents reported during the parent phone calls that their child had taught them how to do it at home.”- Year 3
  • “Children have been using strategies outside of school and find it useful. They use the strategies to calm down.” – Year 4
  • “I am very happy with how the Paws b sessions are going. The children really enjoy, and since day one I have seen an improvement in their concentration. Each week we are taught a new method of mindfulness. This allows each pupil to select their preferred method of mindfulness, rather than all being asked to use the same. As a teacher this then makes mindfulness sessions that much easier, as I feel comfortable leaving the children to do this independently with supervision. This has improved their confidence, and several children have mentioned how they now use it at home to help them sleep or calm them down. The PowerPoints are also enjoyable and easy to follow, and Ffiona is fantastic with the children.” – Year 5
  • “Most of the children seem to enjoy it and find it useful.” – Year 4
  • “The sessions do calm most of the children down.” – Year 4
  • “It has helped me with my ability to deliver mindfulness strategies.” – Year 4
  • “Small portion of the children say that the strategies do not work and some do not want to participate.” – Year 4
  • “It’s criminal that mindfulness isn’t compulsory across all schools. It’s amazing these children are being taught this and everyone should be doing it.” – teacher’s family member.
  • “We had a mindful moment in the Tropical House when we visited the National Botanical Gardens and it was wonderful; we all listened to the water flowing and even heard birds there that we wouldn’t have heard otherwise!” – Yr 5

As a result of this teaching, the school are in the process of developing a new school curriculum with mindfulness set at the heart of it, for Foundation Phase and KS2.

Discussions have taken place on how mindfulness can be embedded within the school long-term with the excellent understanding they’ve gained for the need for class teachers to be mindful themselves in order for the class to be truly mindful.

Several teachers have expressed an interest in continuing with mindfulness courses for themselves personally and to also be able to deliver it as their role as a class teacher. Indeed, the school have been so impressed with the programme that they’ve booked 8-week mindfulness training for all staff in Foundation Phase and KS2 with a view to fully embedding mindfulness within the school and possibly look at staff training further in the future in Paws b and dots so that the school can be self-sufficient with its mindfulness teachings. It was decided that the Paws b posters would be displayed on the pupils’ toilet walls – it was discussed that some children go to the bathroom to calm down and this would be a useful place to display them without them getting lost on the walls of the classroom walls. The children noticed them straight away, coming back to class asking why they had appeared there!

Written by Naomi Beynon:

How does mindfulness sit within and complement your wider wellbeing offering for staff and students?

Mindfulness is now an integral part of the school day, it is used within assemblies as part of our reflection time and also at transition times. We have found that behaviour has improved as a result of the children being given more opportunities to self -regulate. Mindfulness has been embedded into the self-regulation strand of our health and well-being AOLE and has been a focus on the School Development Plan this academic year.

We are a school focused very much on outdoor learning, pupils visit beach and forest school on a regular basis. We feel that mindfulness is the perfect accompaniment to this focus as we can introduce mindful moments and breathing practices in the outdoor spaces.

Teacher workload and stress is a well-documented issue. We now intend to train all our teaching staff in ‘The Present’ mindfulness course which will help them deliver mindfulness to a higher level and also help them deal with their own emotions.

What plans do you have to develop this for the future?

We want to set up Mindful Ambassadors in school so the pupils can take ownership of the practice. When Covid restrictions ease we would like to hold mindful sessions for the wider community and parents.

The post Case Study: Bishopston Primary School appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

• Enw: Ffiona Owen
• Rôl: Athrawes meddylgarwch allanol
• Lleoliad: Abertawe
• Ystod oed y disgyblion: 7 – 11 oed (CA2)
• Nifer y disgyblion: 276 (CA2)
• Nifer o ddosbarthiadau: 9
• Canran premiwm disgybl: Amherthnasol
• Canran ADY (SEND/SEMH): 16.7%
• Nifer o staff a hyfforddwyd i addysgu meddylgarwch: 0
• Dyddiad cyflawni: Tymor yr haf 12/04/2021 – 16/07/2021

Yn ystod mis Hydref 2014, ar argymhelliad seicolegydd, fe wnes i gwblhau cwrs 8 wythnos ar Leihau Straen yn Seiliedig ar Feddylgarwch (MBSR) a gynhaliwyd gan Dr Helen Davies o’r Ganolfan Gwaith ac Ymchwil Seiliedig ar Feddylgarwch, Prifysgol Abertawe, i fy helpu i ddelio â chyflwr niwrolegol yr oeddwn newydd dderbyn diagnosis yn ei gylch ynghyd â’r ansicrwydd, y pryder a’r straen cyson a ddaeth yn ei sgil.

Roeddwn wedi ymarfer fel Ffisiotherapydd ers 10 mlynedd, gan arbenigo mewn adsefydlu strôc. Roedd fy ymarfer yn seiliedig ar dystiolaeth ac nid oeddwn erioed wedi clywed am feddylgarwch. Roeddwn yn cael trafferth ar y pryd ac nid oedd gennyf ddim i’w golli, felly cwblheais y cwrs MBSR.

Fe ddysgais i gymaint: sut i fod yn bresennol, sut i ganolbwyntio ar y presennol, sut i ddelio ag emosiynau anodd mewn ffordd iach. Allwn i ddim peidio â meddwl, pe bawn i wedi dysgu’r sgiliau hyn yn gynt, faint gwell y byddwn i wedi delio â straen bywyd. Ar y pryd, roedd fy mhlant yn 5 a 3 oed ac ni allwn beidio â meddwl pa mor fuddiol fyddai meddylgarwch iddynt.

Yn ystod tymor yr Hydref 2019, cysylltais â Mr Ceri Scourfield, pennaeth Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontybrenin, ysgol gynradd cyfrwng Cymraeg yn Abertawe yr oedd fy mhlant 10 ac 8 oed yn ei mynychu ar y pryd. Roedd gen i berthynas gref gyda’r ysgol eisoes trwy fy mhlant fy hun ac roeddwn i’n gwirfoddoli’n rheolaidd i helpu disgyblion y Cyfnod Sylfaen gyda’u darllen. Fy ngobaith oedd cyflwyno rhaglenni meddylgarwch o fewn yr ysgol.

Eglurais y cwrs Paws b a ddatblygwyd gan y Prosiect Meddylgarwch mewn Ysgolion (MiSP) a daethom i gytundeb y byddwn yn cyflwyno’r rhaglen yn wirfoddol i bob un o’r 9 dosbarth CA2 yn gyfnewid am i’r ysgol dalu ffioedd fy nghwrs. Roedd y cwricwlwm newydd gael ei gyfieithu i’r Gymraeg a ni fyddai’r ysgol gyntaf i’w gyflwyno yn yr iaith hon. Roedd y cytundeb hwn yn rhagddyddio’r ailwampio yng nghwricwlwm ysgolion Cymru a chyn dyfodiad Covid.

Ar ddechrau tymor y Gwanwyn 2020, fe darodd Covid – gohiriwyd fy hyfforddiant ac ni chaniatawyd ymwelwyr ar dir yr ysgol bryd hynny. Cwblheais fy hyfforddiant Paws b ar-lein fis Mehefin 2020 ac yn nhymor yr haf 2021 cyflwynais y cwrs i ddisgyblion CA2. Y diben oedd cyflwyno meddylgarwch i athrawon a myfyrwyr yr ysgol gyda’r bwriad bod yr ysgol edrych ar hyfforddiant pellach i’w staff er mwyn gwreiddio meddylgarwch yn llawn yn y tymor hir, gyda mi yn dod i mewn ar sail ymgynghorol i gefnogi ei weithrediad.

Nid oeddwn erioed wedi dysgu dosbarth o blant o’r blaen felly roedd yn llwybr dysgu serth! Enillais gymaint o hyder ynof fy hun, fy ngalluoedd fy hun a’r gred oedd gennyf mewn meddylgarwch, a dim ond cryfhau wnaeth y cwrs Paws b. Roedd yn bleser pur dysgu yn yr ysgol ac roeddwn i’n eithaf emosiynol ar ôl gorffen – doeddwn i ddim eisiau gadael. Cefais lawer o adborth anhygoel gyda sawl aelod o staff yn amlwg wedi buddsoddi yn y cwricwlwm a gweld ei fanteision drostynt eu hunain, ac yn awyddus iawn i barhau â meddylgarwch o fewn yr ysgol a rhai hyd yn oed yn awyddus i dderbyn yr hyfforddiant eu hunain er mwyn gallu ei gyflwyno.

Adborth gan staff:

“Rwy’n bendant yn fwy ymwybodol o bryd rwy’n teimlo’n sigledig ac rwyf wedi dysgu technegau i helpu fy hun. Maen nhw wir yn helpu, nid yn unig o fewn amgylchedd yr ysgol ond yn bersonol mewn bywyd bob dydd hefyd.”

“Mae meddylgarwch mor bwysig i ddisgyblion a staff. Rwyf wedi gweld effaith mor gadarnhaol arnom a byddaf yn bendant mewn cysylltiad yn y dyfodol i barhau â’r gwaith gwych hwn.”

“Cyn gynted ag y bydda i’n sylwi bod y dosbarth (neu fi) yn heb setlo, rydyn ni’n gwneud un o’r ymarferion anadlu gyda’n gilydd ac mae’n dod â ni yn ôl i lawr ac yn ein helpu ni i ganolbwyntio’n well, yn bendant.”

“Mae’r ymarferion yn fy helpu gyda fy ngorbryder fy hun.”

“Mae angen i mi wneud yr ymarferion hyn fy hun oherwydd rydw i dan straen, felly rwy’n falch eich bod chi yma!”

Adborth gan ddisgyblion:

“Fe wnes i’r ymarferion anadlu pan oedd fy chwaer yn tynnu arna i. Fe wnaethon nhw fy helpu i setlo a fy atal rhag ymladd yn ôl fel y byddwn i fel arfer.”

“Ydych chi’n dod yn ôl y flwyddyn nesaf i addysgu meddylgarwch eto?”

“Y peth gorau am y cwrs yw ein bod ni’n gallu siarad am yr hyn oedd yn ein poeni ni.”

“Fe wnes i’r anadlu bol a brest cyn i mi wneud fy nghystadleuaeth nofio oherwydd roeddwn i’n ofnus ac yn nerfus. Fe helpodd fi i setlo a chanolbwyntio, ac fe wnes i ennill y gystadleuaeth!”

“Ymlacio!”

“Rwy’n gwneud yr ymarferion cyn i mi fynd i gysgu; maen nhw’n fy helpu i setlo a chwympo i gysgu.”

“Mae’r ymarferion yn fy helpu pan dwi’n drist.”

“Fe helpodd fi i beidio teimlo dan straen.”

“Rwyf wrth fy modd â’r gwersi ymwybyddiaeth ofalgar a byddwn wrth fy modd yn ei wneud bob dydd.”

Ar ben hyn, gwelodd un rhiant, sy’n Ddirprwy Bennaeth ei hun, pa mor fuddiol ydoedd i’w phlant ac mae wedi fy ngwahodd i gyflwyno’r cwrs Paws b i holl ddosbarthiadau CA2 a’u Cyfleuster Addysgu Arbenigol Iau yn Ysgol Gynradd Llandeilo Ferwallt lle rwy’n dod i ddiwedd y cwrs 12 wythnos nawr.

Codwyd ymwybyddiaeth o’r cwrs o fewn yr ysgolion sy’n bwydo Ysgol Gyfun Gŵyr a dangoswyd diddordeb gan dîm Seicoleg Addysg Awdurdod Lleol Abertawe.

Wrth i amser fynd rhagddo, mae ysgolion yng Nghymru wedi dechrau datblygu manylion y Cwricwlwm Iechyd a Lles newydd sy’n rhoi cyfle i feddylgarwch wneud cyfraniad sylweddol. Mae Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontybrenin bellach mewn sefyllfa i gymryd hyn i ystyriaeth a’r gobaith yw rhannu hynny gyda’r ysgolion eraill sy’n bwydo Ysgol Gyfun Gŵyr.

The post Astudiaeth Achos: Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontybrenin appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

• Name: Ffiona Owen
• Role: External mindfulness teacher
• Location: Swansea
• Age range of students: 7 – 11 years (KS2)
• Number of students: 276 (KS2)
• Number of classes: 9
• Percentage pupil premium: N/A
• Percentage SEND/SEMH: 16.7%
• Number of staff trained to teach mindfulness: 0
• Date of delivery: Summer term 12/04/2021 – 16/07/2021

During October 2014, on the recommendation of a psychologist, I completed the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course run by Dr Helen Davies from the Centre for Mindfulness-Based Work and Research, Swansea University, to help me deal with a newly-diagnosed neurological condition and the constant uncertainty, worry and stress it brought.

I had practiced as a Physiotherapist for 10 years, specialising in stroke rehabilitation. My practice was evidence-based and I’d never heard of mindfulness. I was struggling at the time and I had nothing to lose, so I completed the MBSR course.

I learnt so much: how to be present, how to concentrate on the here and now, how to deal with difficult emotions in a healthy way. I couldn’t help but think if I’d learnt these skills sooner, how much better I would have dealt with life stresses. At the time, my children were 5 and 3 years old and I couldn’t help but think how beneficial mindfulness would be for them.

During the Autumn term 2019, I approached Mr Ceri Scourfield, headteacher at Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontybrenin, a Welsh-medium primary school in Swansea that my then 10 and 8 year old children attended. I already had a strong relationship with the school through my own children and I regularly volunteered to help Foundation Phase pupils with their reading. My hope was to introduce mindfulness programmes within the school.

I explained the Paws b course developed by Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) and we came to the agreement that I would deliver the programme on a volunteer basis to all 9 KS2 classes in return for the school paying my course fees. The curriculum had just been translated to Welsh and we would be the first school to deliver it in this language. This agreement pre-dated the overhaul in the Welsh schools curriculum and before the onset of Covid.

At the beginning of the Spring term 2020, Covid hit – my training was delayed and visitors weren’t permitted on the school premises at that time. I completed my Paws b training online June 2020 and in the Summer term of 2021 I delivered the course to the KS2 pupils. The purpose was to introduce mindfulness to the teachers and students at the school with a view to the school looking into further training for its staff in order to fully embed mindfulness long-term, with me coming in on a consultancy basis to support its implementation.

I had never taught a classroom of children before so it was a steep learning curve! I gained so much confidence in myself, my own abilities and the belief I had in mindfulness and the Paws b course only strengthened. It was an absolute pleasure to teach at the school and I was quite emotional when I finished – I didn’t want to leave. I had lots of amazing feedback with several staff members visibly invested in the curriculum and seen its benefits first-hand, and very keen to continue with mindfulness within the school and some keen to even train themselves and be able to deliver it.

Some staff feedback:

“I am definitely more aware of when I’m feeling wobbly and I’ve learnt techniques to help myself. They truly do help, not just within the school environment but personally in every-day life too.”

“Mindfulness is so important for both pupils and staff. I have seen such a positive effect on us and I will definitely be in touch in the future to carry on this fantastic work.”

“The practices help me with my own anxiety.”

“As soon as I notice that the class (or I) are unsettled, we do one of the breathing exercises together and it brings us right back down and helps us to focus better, most definitely.”

“I need to do these exercises myself because I’m stressed, so I’m glad you’re here!”

Some student feedback:

“I did the breathing exercises when my sister was winding me up. They helped me to settle and stopped me from fighting back like I normally would.”

“Are you coming back next year to teach mindfulness again?”

“The best thing about the course is that we could talk about what was worrying us.”

“Relaxing!”

“I do the practices before I go to sleep; they help me settle and fall asleep.”

“The practices help me when I’m sad.”

“It helped me not to stress out.”

“I love the mindfulness lessons and I’d love to do it every day.”

“I did the tummy and chest breathing before I did my swimming competition because I was scared and nervous.It helped me to settle and focus, and I won the competition!”

On the back of this, one parent, who is a Deputy Headteacher themselves, saw how beneficial it was for her children and has invited me to deliver the Paws b course to all KS2 classes and their Junior Specialist Teaching Facility at Bishopston Primary School where I am coming to the end of the 12-week course now.

Awareness of the course has been raised within the Ysgol Gyfun Gŵyr feeder schools and interest has been shown by Swansea Local Authority Educational Psychology team.

As time has progressed schools in Wales have begun to develop the detail of the new Health and Wellbeing Curriculum which provides opportunity for mindfulness to make a significant contribution.  Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontybrenin are now in a position to take this on board and hopefully share that with the other feeder schools to Ysgol Gyfun Gŵyr.

The post Case Study: Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontybrenin appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

• Setting: Service-wide. Local authority schools and workforce
• Location: Powys
• MiSP Curricula: .b Foundations, Paws b and .b
• Age group/s: Adults and young people 7-16
• Author: Linda Gutierrez
• Role: Emotional Health and Wellbeing Lead, Pupil Referral Service South and Mid Powys

About Powys Local Authority

Powys is the largest county in Wales, covering an area of some 2000 square miles, with a small population of around 132,000. Small schools and a workforce covering a wide geographical area makes it a challenge to develop and embed new initiatives. We train staff in a range of evidence-based interventions and, as a local authority, take an inclusive approach to ensure that opportunities for training and support are shared amongst our multi-agency workforce.

Linda’s Training:

• MBSR
• Teach .b
• School Mindfulness Lead

I began my training as a cognitive behavioural therapist, which included a three-day masterclass in depression with Dr Melanie Fennell from Oxford. I was aware of mindfulness, but despite the evidence-base, could not really see me delivering or practising it. From the moment I observed Melanie, so skilfully and profoundly guiding those first practices, I realised that this was something that could become part of me and my work, not just as a therapist but also in my inclusion work in schools.

I was on the hunt for evidence-based practice to address inclusion, attendance and behaviour issues for a Welsh Government pilot. I knew that I wanted to get mindfulness in there, so I turned to MiSP. I trained to teach .b in 2011 and we introduced it into schools.

Outcomes:

We were keen to build our toolkit of evidence and ran a small randomised control trial that showed children who took part in .b reported improved wellbeing during a particularly turbulent time in the school compared to their counterparts who did not take part in .b.

A Pathway for Powys - the importance of sustainability and inclusivity

Responding to the Pandemic

A sustainable and inclusive model

Introducing mindfulness into your setting

Thank you so much to Linda for the inspiring work she is doing. Her talk at the conference is available for Hub members here.

The post Offering mindfulness throughout the Powys County Council Pupil Referral Service: An inclusive and sustainable model. appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

The Curriculum for Wales 2022 defines its four purposes: to develop children and young people as:

• ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives
• enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work
• ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world
• healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

Key to all these developments is a commitment that assessment will be led by learning, rather than the current situation where learning is largely dictated by the assessment criteria. The central focus of assessment arrangements will be to ensure learners understand how they are performing and what they need to do next.

SO WHERE DOES MINDFULNESS FIT IN?

Well, potentially almost everywhere …

Mindfulness supports the delivery of change

Mindfulness brings values and attitudes that can support all stakeholders given that this aspirational new curriculum which will require both systemic and cultural change to successfully implement. Running a school, managing staff and delivering quality learning experiences and support for young people is not easy, even without a brand new curriculum to deliver. Mindfulness encourages curiosity and a ‘beginner’s mind’, which can provide a foundation for welcoming change and providing a new perspective to support school leadership as they undertake this endeavour. Mindfulness also encourages kindness and compassion, to others as well as to self, which can bring a different, and perhaps more effective, tone to the necessary communication and collaboration required to implement necessary change.

Mindfulness supports the creativity required to meet the demands of the new curriculum

Mindfulness can also provide mental space where ideas can germinate and develop. Implementing the Curriculum for Wales will require a significant amount of creativity, from interpretation of initial requirements to development of lessons to assessing learning and to continually develop and enhance the experience. School staff will benefit enormously from mindfulness training to learn how to access the mental space necessary for creativity to spark.

Mindfulness provides content for lessons

Our existing MiSP high quality curricula can provide spiralling lesson content to meet a large part of the Health and Wellbeing Area of Learning. MiSP’s Paws b and .b lessons and additional materials already cover many of the five What Matters Statements for Health and Well-being:

• Developing physical health and well-being has lifelong benefits.
• How we process and respond to our experiences affects our mental health and emotional well-being.
• Our decision-making impacts on the quality of our lives and the lives of others.
• How we engage with different social influences shapes who we are and our health and well-being.
• Healthy relationships are fundamental to our sense of belonging and well-being.

Simply by teaching our curricula, schools will go a long way to have met this Area of Learning.

Mindfulness supports the four purposes of the new curriculum

Mindfulness can feature in other Areas of Learning and be embedded throughout the school ethos to support the four purposes. Awareness of the present moment can absolutely help young people be ‘ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives’ and ‘enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work’.

Mindfulness also contributes to the development of ‘ethical, informed citizens’ – there is a growing body of writing on the ethical dimension of mindfulness: now that I am aware of the present moment, what should I do? This has a significant part to play in themes such as the environment, justice and the economy and an impact not just on how learners see themselves as citizens, but, crucially, how they approach the choices and decisions they will need to make.

Finally, mindfulness can support the development of ‘healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society’. At MiSP we teach young people about ‘taking in the good’ and how to cope with challenge. Mindfulness can not only help with sleep, relationships and anxiety about exams, but enable individuals to enjoy every moment and flourish.

Our recommendation

We are developing detailed guidance for schools in Wales on how mindfulness supports the Curriculum for Wales 2022, but in the immediate term we encourage:

• All schools in Wales to investigate the benefits of mindfulness and how it can support their work. Come and visit our stand at the National Education Show in Cardiff on Friday 25^th October 2019 or book a place on one of our regular online information webinars.
• All teachers and education professionals in Wales be given the opportunity to attend an eight-week adult mindfulness course. We offer .begin, our live, instructor-led course which runs every term. Find out more about .begin and apply for a place on an upcoming course.
• All children to be offered mindfulness as part of the new curriculum. Adults can train to teach our Paws b and .b curricula when they have completed an eight-week course. These curricula are available in Welsh language versions.
• Clusters and consortia to work together to develop and embed mindfulness as a whole-school, whole cluster, whole consortia approach. At MiSP we promote a sustainable mindfulness model and encourage schools to work together to support the development of mindfulness in their communities.

MiSP is working closely with the wider mindfulness community in Wales to put mindfulness on the national agenda and encourage the Welsh Government to develop a cross sector approach to mindfulness in health, community and public service as well as education. Read more about MiSP’s work in Wales here.

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Background

In the UK, education is a devolved matter. In Wales, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) is responsible for education, training and children’s services, and reports to the Welsh Government. In 2014 the DfES commissioned a review of curriculum and assessment in Wales to address the variable quality of teaching and standards in education identified by Estyn (the Welsh equivalent to Ofsted). The report ‘Successful Futures’ was published in February 2015 recommending a radical overhaul of the Welsh national curriculum.

The new 2022 curriculum

This year, DfES has published a new curriculum designed to make learning more experience-based and support children and young people to be:

• ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives
• enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work
• ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world
• healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

It includes six Areas of Learning and Experience:

• Expressive arts.
• Health and well-being.
• Humanities (including RE which should remain compulsory to age 16).
• Languages, literacy and communication (including Welsh, which should remain compulsory to age 16, and modern foreign languages).
• Mathematics and numeracy.
• Science and technology.

The curriculum will go live in 2022, and schools in Wales are now trying to plan how they will implement it and what it means for them.

Health and Wellbeing

For the first time, health and wellbeing is recognised in the national curriculum as a core area of learning. This area of learning aims to support learners to develop and maintain not only their physical health and well-being, but also their mental health and emotional well-being, as well as developing positive relationships in a range of contexts. To enable this, it will build learners’ capacity to make informed decisions about their health and well-being and also to engage critically with a range of social influences which may impact on their values and behaviours. It is no surprise that schools, educators and communities are recognising that teaching mindfulness to children and young people will meet these aims and strengthen their delivery of this area of learning.

MiSP in Wales

We are extremely fortunate to have a fantastic network of MiSP trainers and teachers (trained to teach .b and Paws b) in Wales already who advocate mindfulness in schools. We have worked with Carmarthenshire County Council to run group training courses for their teachers, and look forward to developing initiatives like this with other councils and consortia.

Given the impending changes in the national curriculum in Wales, we anticipate that more and more Welsh schools will gravitate towards our whole-school approach and increasingly realise the value of teaching mindfulness to their staff and children. Our curriculum .b has been translated into Welsh and the translation of Paws b will be available in the Autumn, meeting the needs also of Welsh-speaking schools. We will be aiming to publish guidance for schools in Wales on how MiSP curricula and training can support their implementation of the new curriculum.

We very much encourage teachers in Wales to begin their own mindfulness journeys, via .begin, and to come on training to teach our curricula.

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Carmarthenshire County Council, in collaboration with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, has established a ground-breaking programme to bring mindfulness training to schools in south west Wales …

We are delighted to have been invited to provide bespoke group training to teachers in Carmarthenshire to introduce more young people to the benefits of mindfulness. Of 110 teachers already trained in our adult mindfulness curriculum, ‘.b Foundations’, we were able to train 20 of these participants to ‘Teach .b’, in St Clears last month.  Carmarthenshire County Council aim to have a mindfulness teacher in each of the 117 schools in Carmarthenshire over the next few years to give as many of their young people as possible an opportunity to learn our .b curriculum in the classroom.

UWTSD Lecturer in Mindfulness, Heather Fish, who has delivered the adult training as well as co-ordinating arrangements for the MiSP teacher training in March,  said: “It is an honour to be a part of this important project, and to bring the teacher training directly into this area thus saving on time and cost.  Most importantly, this creates a sustainable model whereby those involved have the relevant training to now deliver this curriculum in-house, with the greatest integrity in mindfulness teaching.”

Bethan James, Head of Corporate Parenting and Child Welfare, Carmarthenshire County Council, said: “We are embracing mindfulness as a proactive approach that will not only support the well-being of pupils but also our school staff. All staff that have participated to date have found the mindfulness programme helpful. It is exciting to work in collaboration with UWTSD on this important project and we are looking forward to monitoring its impact.”

Our CEO, Chivonne Preston, hopes that other county councils can follow Carmarthenshire’s lead and establish similar programmes for schools across the UK: “We know from experience that embedding mindfulness in schools can have a hugely positive impact, on teachers, on the children and on the whole school community.”

If you would like to learn more about bringing mindfulness to your school visit our information pages or email enquiries@mindfulnessinschools if you would like specific guidance. You can find details of our upcoming courses here.

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