Elinor interviews the founder of Teachappy and author of the award-winning Wellbeing In The Primary Classroom – A Practical Guide To Teaching Happiness, Adrian Bethune:

The post Adrian Bethune appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

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.

A year on we still face huge challenges, from the pandemic now and from the cumulative effects of the last two years. With covid rates high there is more pressure on education staff and the children in their care. We also face transitions as rules change and restrictions are lifted.

We often look at transitions in the bigger scheme of things, changes of school year, the move from primary to secondary, coming back from holidays etc. In a recent training for educators, we were discussing how we support transitions in schools and how we are experiencing more, as a result of the pandemic. We have been:… and so it goes on. And that’s just coping with the rules and rule changes brought about by this situation.

If we zoom in on the school day, it is full of more transitions. beginning with getting out of bed and everything involved in getting to school on time. In school there is movement from subject to subject or activity to activity, classroom to break time or lunchtime and back again. Then ending a very packed day and returning home to the activities of the afternoon and evening.

For older students there are even more; form time, moving between classrooms and buildings, changing teachers, changing subjects, changing groups of peers in different lessons.

No wonder everyone’s exhausted.

Transitions can be even more subtle. All of our minds wander. What about those moments in class where your attention has gone and then, shifting back into awareness, you realise someone’s asked you a question and you don’t have a clue what they said – this can happen to the adults in the room too . . .

Transitions can be difficult for many of us, even more so if we are tired, don’t like where we’re heading, don’t want to be doing what’s coming next, or don’t like who we are going to be spending our time with. They can be challenging if we aren’t sure about what’s coming up, or if we feel unprepared.

If we are experiencing low mood or anxiety these transitions can be even harder and there may be many other moments of transition that some children might not notice but for others they are really challenging.

A core part of MiSP curricula for all ages from 3 – 18+ are short practices that just take moments and can ground and resource us in the middle of challenge and uncertainty.

We also recognise that, as the adults caring for children and young people, we need to resource ourselves to best support them.

What practices might we use to support us when we notice anxiety at an upcoming transition? How can we resource ourselves in those moments?

Top tips for managing transitions:

• Prepare for bigger transitions beforehand, so you feel organised. Perhaps mentally ‘walk through’ what you will need to do.
• With bigger transitions, break down the changes into smaller achievable steps, ‘chunk it’ and take one small step at a time.
• Reach for help from others who might be able to support you with those transitions and might make them easier for you.
• Decide ahead of making smaller transitions what you might use as an ‘anchor’ to support you in the moment e.g. feet on the floor, breath, sounds.
• Practice pausing just before transitioning into another activity.
• Recognise that you are not alone if you struggle with transitions and offer yourself the kindness you would offer someone else who was struggling.

* https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-of-children-and-young-people-in-england/2021-follow-up-to-the-2017-survey

Here’s a short grounding practice if you’d like to have a go.

Here’s an example of our Schools Sit Together with Ben Chalwin, MiSP’s Head of Training leading a practice for adults and students.

Our .breathe curriculum is designed to support 9-14 year olds, it’s open to educators whether they have experience of mindfulness or not and is a one-day training with a wealth of resources that can be taken straight into the classroom.

The post Coping with Transitions (Big & Small) 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.

Do you ever find yourself postponing a break until the next thing is done?

With the intense demands on education staff, intensified by the pandemic, it is no wonder that day after day involves driving relentlessly from one task to another.

In addition, as educators and carers, many of us have a habit of putting ourselves at the bottom of the ‘to do list’. Does that sound familiar to you?

On top of that, when pressures are high, and we are conscientious, it is often the nourishing activities that we let go of, to make more time for the ‘to do list’.^[i] ‘I’ll just . . ….’ is one of my favourite phrases and it doesn’t serve my health or wellbeing.

Rest is not just for holidays, it needs to be woven into everyday life. With winter coming, prioritising physical and mental health is essential. In the UK if you are working both sessions of a school day you are entitled to a ‘reasonable break’, twenty minutes at least.^[ii] Making time outside work to rest is important too.

We need to take care of ourselves in order to take care of others. 

Doing nothing is hard. When life is busy it takes time to slow down. I sometimes feel like a mechanical wind-up toy that keeps whirring away long after it’s stopped moving.

Rest doesn’t have to be doing nothing and mindfulness can help. Mindfulness isn’t stopping what we’re doing, it’s knowing what we’re doing and having our mind and body in the same place at the same time. It’s how we do things as much as what we do.

When you eat lunch, can you just eat lunch? What’s it like to sit down, engage your senses, notice textures and flavours, rather than squeezing in more tasks with lunch on the side?

If you have a warm drink what’s it like to pay attention to the warmth, weight and texture of the cup, the light reflecting in the liquid, the smell and flavour of the drink?

This ‘single-tasking’ in itself can give us a break.

Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith is a medic and a parent and specialises in helping people with their work-rest balance which, let’s face it, for many of us, involves a massive rest deficit. Dalton-Smith names 7 types of rest that we all need. Physical, mental, sensory, creative, emotional, social, spiritual.^[iii]

Mindfulness maps onto all 7 areas:

Physical rest – Mindfulness is an opportunity to listen to your body and respond skilfully to its messages. Many people notice sleepiness during practice, which can signal a need for rest and be a letting go. Sleep is a vital form of rest. Physical rest can also include gentle stretching or a massage. Can we make kind choices to take care of our body which does so much for us and others?

Mental rest – When we’re constantly busy ‘doing’, the chances are the mind is busy too. Switching off is hard and this can impact physical rest and sleep. The great thing about mindfulness is that we’re not trying to stop thinking. Stopping our thoughts is impossible and just creates struggle! We are learning to change our relationship with thinking, to step back from our thoughts, give them space and release their hold on us. Can we build regular times into the day, even a couple of minutes at a time, where we can take a break and just be?

Sensory rest – We are constantly receiving and processing information during the school day, and outside through continued connection to devices. Switch them off for a while! There is no need to switch off our senses though. With mindfulness practice we choose what we take in, how we take it in and rest in our senses, receiving their messages without searching or striving. We might lower our gaze or close our eyes, to reduce visual input. We might sit and receive what we see, colours, shapes and textures. The switch is from doing to being. Easier said than done but that’s why it’s called mindfulness practice!

Creative rest – You may find this in nature or knitting, painting or cooking or just choosing things you enjoy looking at, make music, listen to it, dance round the kitchen find whatever works for you. And can you, just for this moment, enter fully into the experience?

Emotional rest – Working in education, with so many who need care, involves holding how others are and holding back how we are. Mindfulness is self-supportive. It enables us to be a friend and mentor to ourselves, to recognise, acknowledge and care for how we are and our needs.

Social rest – We need people we trust, can be ourselves with and who lift us up rather than drain us. Mindfulness helps us notice the effect people have on us and make skilful choices in response. It helps us choose how we relate to others including setting boundaries.

Spiritual rest – What gives you a sense of connection that enriches you? A walk in nature? Community engagement? Spiritual rest nourishes us, connecting us to something beyond ourselves. It doesn’t have to be anything big. Can you find beauty in the little things? Notice colours, sounds, scents of the changing season? Appreciate the journey the food you are eating has made from field to fork?

Which form of rest would you find most nourishing today?

If there are activities you are already doing; could you reframe your approach, give them your full attention and rest in the process?

[i] Mark Williams and Danny Penman, Mindfulness Finding Peace in a Frantic World, p.211.

[ii] Graeme Hornsby, ‘Directed time: entitlement to breaks’, The Key for School Leaders.

[iii] Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith, The 7 Types of Rest that Every Person Needs.

The post Ways to Rest appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

“… how will we know when we are truly inclusive? That’s where belonging comes in – the output of true inclusion is a sense of belonging for everyone.” Asif Sadiq^[i]

Why does a sense of belonging matter and what does it need to grow? I’ve been reflecting on this personally – it’s a few weeks into secondary for my youngest and he’s still eating lunch alone – in the wider context of inclusion and amidst the ongoing disruption to school life due to Covid. I wonder how you are all getting on this term.

The importance of belonging is not new. It has a place at the centre of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1954) and Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary went further, comparing satisfying the need to belong, to survival needs like food and shelter (1995).^[ii]

In 2020 the NEU commissioned a research-based inquiry into belonging in school. One of the challenges was that 1 in 4 young people feel they don’t belong, a number which was growing.^[iii] Baumeister’s most recent paper (2021), looking at belongingness and school children, describes how a lack of belongingness, including specifically belonging in schools, is linked with high loneliness, low well-being, poor adjustment, low socioemotional health, impaired sleep, and other issues. ^[iv]

According to Baumeister and Leary two elements of relationships foster belongingness:

• The nature of the interactions; regular and pleasant or at least not unpleasant.
• The context; part of lasting, caring relationships.

Both elements are necessary and explains why, for now, my youngest’s sense of belongingness at his new school is connected with his older sibling being there too. It also explains my longing for him to build just a couple of good relationships with peers.

So how do we support a sense of belonging in our young people?

Looking at belonging, Mary Beth Hewitt asked a number of students how they knew that they belonged to a group (be it in or out of school). The following are some of the responses that she received:

• They know my name.
• They spell my name right.
• They ask me what I want to be called.
• They take time to talk to me.
• They recognise my moods.
• They listen to me.
• They smile at me.
• They take an interest in what’s important to me.
• They ask me to help.
• They let me help.
• They recognise when I’m gone and welcome me when I return.
• They share my ideas with others [e.g. John had a good idea for … ].
• They are honest with me.
• They include me.
• They appreciate my contributions.
• They don’t change what I’ve done without asking me first.
• When they ask for my opinion, they incorporate it.
• They welcome me back no matter what.
• They may not like what I did, but they don’t hold it against me.
• They trust me.
• They can disagree without making me feel “put down.”^[v]

In his 2021 research, one of Baumeister’s key points is that new social competencies should be developed to help children relate and belong in school. Dr Kelly-Ann Allen has led research into belonging in schools which corroborates this. She suggests ‘Building belonging in schools should be absorbed into ongoing practices that already occur throughout a typical school day rather than being an additional task. Starting with social and emotional competencies, and prioritising relationship and social skills, and emotional regulation can help lay solid foundations for a culture of belonging.’^[vi]

More than this, it invites a systemic approach. Allen’s research demonstrates that of the predictors associated with a sense of belonging to school, the student-teacher relationship was one of the most powerful (Allen et al 2018) and, in turn, teachers’ sense of connection to school predicts their students’ sense of connection. The NEU research looked at belonging and an intentional whole-school approach involving leadership and culture.

Allen highlights the role of teacher wellbeing and the importance of this as we know, extends to all education staff, teaching assistants, lunchtime supervisors, administrative staff. Also, from my perspective as a parent feeling very distanced from school, to the wider community of parents and carers. We have all been facing unprecedented demands during the pandemic. We all need to resource ourselves. None of us can pour from an empty cup and what we model to the people around us is catching.

Something that has become increasingly clear to me, and is coming up regularly in conversation with colleagues, is that MiSP trainings and curricula offer more than mindfulness to young people and those that care for them. They offer exactly the social and emotional competencies that underpin belonging and inclusion. Trauma-sensitivity is increasingly informing how we work and our curricula for all ages nurture the five core competencies of:

• self-awareness
• self-management
• social awareness
• relationship skills
• responsible decision making ^[vii]

These competencies are developed explicitly through curricula content and embedded in what we model as mindfulness teachers. There is an additional piece, in terms of how we hold the groups that we work with, supporting a sense of belonging and inclusion by creating a safe space in which people can come as they are, inviting diverse contributions, welcoming all equally and cultivating mutual respect, honouring differences and our common humanity. Teaching the curricula across whole school communities and embedding the practices and qualities in collective culture is possible and powerful and it is our privilege at MiSP to support this.

My own journey to mindfulness began during a challenging time for my family, a mix of serious ill health, moving from one end of the UK to the other and financial stress. It taught me how important it was to resource and regulate myself, for my sake and for my children. Then, as a parent volunteer longing to make a difference to the children’s experience of school, I trained with MiSP to teach Paws b. It was only after I’d started to teach the children that I (again) realised the importance of the wellbeing of the adults around them and trained to teach MBSR and then .b Foundations.

I have been struck again and again by how the courses support us to be human, individually and collectively. What we do is supported by research and an evidence base. It also goes beyond words. Children I have worked with express the impact in their pictures better than I can.

As well as having the shared vocabulary, understanding and experience there is something special that arises in the ‘relative’ quiet of a whole class practising together that weaves connectedness, and the teachers participating alongside their students positively benefit too.

And this reminds me why I want to teach .breathe to 180 year 7s at my son’s school.

[i] Sadiq, A. (2020). Belonging − the missing ingredient of diversity and inclusion, The CBI.

[ii] Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529.

[iii] ‘Place and Belonging in School: why it matters today’ A Research-based Inquiry undertaken by The Art of Possibilities & UCL, Institute of Education Professor Kathryn Riley, Dr Max Coates, Dr Tracey Allen November 2020

[iv] Roy F. Baumeister & Davina A. Robson (2021) Belongingness and the modern schoolchild: on loneliness, socioemotional health, self-esteem, evolutionary mismatch, online sociality, and the numbness of rejection, Australian Journal of Psychology, 73:1, 103-111, DOI:

[v] ‘Helping students feel they belong’ Mary Beth Hewitt, eJournal of The International Child And Youth Care Network, Issue 101, June 2007

[vi] ‘Making sense of belonging’ Dr Kelly-Ann Allen MAPS

[vii] The Casel Framework

The post Belonging: How do we nurture it? appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

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

The post Surge in counselling-related calls during pandemic appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

by Liz Lord

In the second of our series of blogs looking at the essential qualities of school mindfulness teachers, Liz Lord questions the constant and never ending ‘to do’ lists and offers an alternative…

I worked for almost 20 years as a teacher, SLT member, SENDCO, CAMHS link and lead for mental health and wellbeing, and for most of that time I constantly had a ‘to do’ list on the go. It seemed an infinite stream of tasks with a life of its own, causing endless stress.

Sometimes, I seem to recall, it would include items written in a hurry, such as ‘sort out Kate’ (a pupil!). How on earth do you do that? And yet, that was the nature of working with children and young people, especially in the area of wellbeing. Time and the system wasn’t on my side and I had little control of the influences surrounding the young people I was working with. ‘Banging my head against a brick wall’ often came to mind when dealing with my ‘to do’ list. Or to use another more northern expression – it was like plaiting fog.

My task list was never ending and it ultimately robbed me of the energy and enthusiasm that those young and impressionable individuals deserved. Does any of this sound familiar?

I attended a training event at work where staff shared their aspirations and long ‘to do’ lists. My heart sank: more ‘to do’s! As I listened, I realised that not one person mentioned any of the personal qualities that, as we all know, can make such a difference to any situation. It was a moment of clarity for me. Eureka! It shouldn’t be just about a ‘to do’ list but a ‘to be’ list!  How do I want to be in the world, in my classroom and how can this shift in emphasis bring a greater sense of fulfilment to my work and life? In many contexts this was the only thing that I had any control of. ‘How can I be in this situation?’

So I decided to try it out. My ‘to be’ list consisted not just of general things such as, be kind or caring or loving, but more specific things like; make time and space for people, allow people the time to express themselves, listen more carefully, show kindness in small ways (with cups of tea, opening doors, smiling!), appreciate conversations, write more ‘thank you’ emails, notice things outside myself, notice things inside myself. This is not the exhaustive list but it gives you a flavour. All of these things were not to be ticked off a list, like obligations completed, but rather they were about spending time cultivating a sense of interest in the people around me and helping me to value and appreciate a deeper sense of community in the classroom and the school.

I wanted to move away from glorifying busyness, rushing and skimming over things to something more wholesome.

I remember a lovely passage that used to help me when pupils or staff came to my door, especially if I was ‘busy’, had a deadline to hit or a lesson to plan.  It was taken from a book I had read by Henri Nouwen, a Jesuit priest and writer. It had always struck a chord with me and left a lasting impression: “My whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work”.

I love this little saying. Often, when I just stopped and let those interruptions develop into something more meaningful, real connections were made, helping to initiate change and create new perspectives. In a sense, there are no interruptions, simply life unfolding in its own way.

Am I saying that focussing on my ‘to be’ list reduced my ‘to do’ list? I’m not sure about that but it certainly helped me to experience more ownership of the things I could change. A sense of acceptance and awareness was brought to the smaller interactions which, in turn, had an effect on me and my ability to appreciate things and experience connections more fully. I felt a certain ‘lightness’ which may seem a bit vague but it is the only word I can think of to describe the sense that came from regularly appreciating the small things that were happening in my day. Something definitely shifted as I more consciously cultivated and fostered a greater sense of awareness and appreciation for whatever or whoever crossed my path

2020 has seen such uncertainty, with so much around us that we cannot control or even predict, and the year ahead will have its own challenges and trials. So over this New Year, if you write a ‘to do’ list for 2021, why not try writing a ‘to be’ list as well and see what happens?

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The post Develop a ‘to be‘ list for 2021 appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

In this first of a series of blogs looking at the essential qualities of school mindfulness teachers, Liz Lord tracks the explosion in popularity of the children’s book, The Lost Words, by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, and explores the lessons we can learn from their experiences.

I first learned of the story of The Lost Words from my daughter, Annie, when she excitedly showed me a beautifully presented children’s poetry book written by the wonderful Robert Macfarlane, and illustrated by the equally wonderful Jackie Morris. I must admit, as with lots of things, the real impact of it didn’t hit me till a few months later when I went to a concert at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) featuring this book. Possibly, the mix of these beautiful poems or ‘spells’ as they are called, and the authentic folk music, resonated more deeply with me in that setting. I was fascinated by the origins of this book and how it had captured the very heart and soul of the nation.

Robert Macfarlane, a most gifted author and Professor of English at the University of Cambridge (and for the record, a truly beautiful man with a gift for nature and words), heard that the editorial team at the Oxford English Dictionary had replaced some words that they deemed no longer part of children’s vocabulary. Every time I mention these words to others for the first time, I have a similar reaction: disbelief or surprise, followed by expressions of sadness and despair.

The words, including; acorn, adder, bramble, otter, dandelion, and skylark have been replaced by such things as bitesize and files. “How can children not need to know what an acorn is?” was a common response. How is it that childhoods in the techno-age have lost their groundedness in the natural world and environment?

Robert responded to his own alarm at the situation by writing a poem (‘spell’) for each of the words that had been “lost” from the dictionary. Together with the immensely talented artist Jackie Morris, they produced a book called The Lost Words.

This large (A2 size) book, captures in each page the real meaning and essence of the words in both prose and artistry. As news of this book has spread, and especially in the light of current concerns about both global and local threats to the environment, there has been a call for all primary schools in the country to have a copy on display in an attempt to reconnect children with the awe and wonder of landscape and the earth. Something would certainly be ‘lost’ if we didn’t help our children resonate with this vital elemental aspect to their lives.

There were stories on twitter of people rowing the book over to remote schools in Scotland, campaigns to fund the book being sent to all corners of the UK. Heart-warming and inspiring stories of passionate people on a mission to help children re-engage with these ‘lost words’.

A commission was granted to fund some of the finest traditional folk musicians to collaboratively produce music and songs to illustrate these ‘lost words and spells’. The result was a collection called ‘spell songs’, and a few concerts were set up around the country to share these interpretations.

Hence my attendance at the RNCM concert last year. It was a most moving experience, deeply connecting me to the meaning and essence of the words and the sentiment behind their important place in our rich vocabulary. The evening was a beautiful mix of prose, music and art, simultaneously being expressed on stage to nurture a deep resonance with the audience.

I was several times brought to tears.

The whole experience of that concert was a feast of the senses. The purity of voice and instruments, watching Jackie Morris expertly craft an otter on canvas during the ‘otter song’, and also the fact that I had gone with a family friend, Anna and her sister Grace, who herself was a young, enthusiastic and talented primary teacher. All these elements of the evening seemed to tap into a deep personal conviction of wanting to pass goodness and beauty to the next generation through children and schools. A common cry of many a schoolteacher I know.

The sentiments of that conviction disturbed me when I later reflected on the pressures and workload, draining the energy, creativity and vibrancy of current life in the classroom and the pressures that are being placed on both the teachers and children alike with a relentless testing regime.

These reflections brought with them a deep sense of sadness and helplessness for the profession that I love and deeply care about and I wrote this in response;

Just as words can slip away from the pages, become obsolete in many eyes, and are lost,

So too can qualities slip away from our being, be left unnoticed, not appreciated and perhaps in time abandoned…

I reflected on all the qualities of the teachers I had known and loved over the years. Colleagues that have been kind, loving, creative, funny, knowledgeable, empowering, delighted, connected, resonance, expecting my best, knowing me fully, taking the time and so much more!

Are we in danger of losing these qualities in the young teachers we are forming? How are we fostering these qualities and how have we let more measurable things like attainment targets and statistics overtake the very qualities we know are important to help our children and young people flourish? We hear of so many difficulties with mental health and wellbeing. Could this be an attempt to address the very qualities we want to be surrounding our young people as they grow and mature? We are responsible as teachers and leaders for forming the children and young people in our care.

What are The Lost Qualities of our teachers and school leaders? How can we express the importance of these qualities so that they are fully present in our schools? How can these words be celebrated and used in the training of our young or new teachers in what is important as a foundational set of qualities to be at the heart of our profession?

Mindfulness in Schools Project is committed to supporting teachers and all those working in and alongside schools. Visit the new areas of our Hub to see information on:

• Supporting Your Practice
• Supporting your Teaching
• Supporting Your School

We are here to bring mindfulness to more schools. Email: support@mindfulnessinschools.org

The post The Lost Qualities of Teachers – Finding a Way Back with Mindfulness appeared first on Mindfulness in Schools Project.

During 2020 MiSP has received generous donations from

Steph Paine, R3’s CSR Lead explained what they did:

“The first time R3 were able to support MiSP was on a Virtual Bar3, which is where the entire London Office is invited to join a Webex call with a drink of their choice and get together for a game or event. The idea is for every person who attends the event to donate £20 to that week’s chosen charity. We received a nomination for MiSP from an employee and were really pleased to be able to raise money for your important work. On MiSP’s week we participated in a virtual Pictionary event which was a lot of fun, and involved many funny drawings and a lot of imagination! For R3 colleagues, this is a great way to meet up out of work hours and spend time building our relationships and enjoying each other’s company while doing something completely non-work related.

The next event where we were able to fundraise for MiSP was during our Wellness Week. I had put forward the idea of a Virtual Race, and we used a company called My Virtual Mission to create our very unique team mission. We decided to create a race from our San Francisco office, via the New York and London offices ending up at our Sydney office and we aimed to cover the 26,000 miles in 120 days!

We invited all employees to take part and split the people who signed up into teams. Each team then came up with a Team Name, a Logo and nominated the charity that they would be racing for. They could cover the distance by running, cycling, walking, doing a fitness class, climbing the stairs or even doing the housework! Progress was tracked using FitBits, other fitness apps or entered manually.

The idea was really to encourage employees to stay active whilst everyone was working from home as well as create a healthy competition and keep people connected. We kept the whole company updated via our weekly newsletter and on our internal internet, so that everyone could watch the progress being made by the teams.

It was a great way to bring our workforce together, to motivate each other to look after our own health and wellbeing, and to have a shared activity to talk and laugh about. We had a great time on our teams trying to achieve our ‘mission’ and are really proud that we are also able to make this donation to MiSP’s work.”

A huge thank you to everyone from R3 for their generous donation of £1,150 to our work. This contribution was added to our A Million Minds Matter Appeal and has helped us to provide Supported Places to 25 state-maintained schools.

You can donate to our work here, or find ideas for your organisation in our fundraising pack.

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