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Setting Your Classroom up for Mindfulness- @inner_child_yoga_school
It’s that time of year again and teachers up and down the country are setting up their classrooms. There are working walls everywhere, every tray has a smart new label and visual timetables are ready to be fixed to whiteboards. Many if you are also squirrelling away to create your calm corners - I have so many freely available resources to help you with this on my website www.innerchildyogaschool.com. But, I can’t help but ask, is a calm corner really enough?
I was a Primary school teacher for six years, so I know how much you’re already trying to think about. But I ask you, just for a moment, to really think about the mental health of your class. Is every child benefitting from your calm corner or only those who actively seek it out? And if I child does go into the space, do they know how to use it? It is essential for all children to learn about their mental health and build a range of strategies to help them notice the very early signs of struggling and then know what they can do about it. The good news is that you can actually teach these strategies, whole class, in a very short period of time - and once children know them, they can use them throughout their entire lives! For example, when I child knows they can ease feelings of anxiety by lengthening their exhale, they can do this anytime, anywhere without anyone knowing!
I find transition times are a great pocket of time to introduce mindfulness. Why not begin the day with everyone rubbing their hands together to generate some warmth, then placing them on their chests and taking a deep breath. When everyone is slumped on their desks after lunch could they take some deep woodchopper breaths to re-energise? Could children spend five minuets in the day jotting some some things they feel grateful for or journaling about how they felt when they tried something new or faced a setback? If our ultimate goal is for children to grow up as happy, fulfilled and contributing member’s of society we need to teach them these skills.
As a specialist children’s yoga teacher, I would of course, highly recommend fitting yoga into your curriculum. Yoga has a host of physical and mental benefits for children and is great for building confidence, giving a lifelong form of fitness and increasing attention spans. Take a look at your PE curriculum or after school club offerings and see if you can make a little space for some yoga.
If you’re interested in sharing yoga within your school on a wider scale I have an entire programme to enable any teacher to set up a safe and effective yoga club. The programme is usually available for schools to purchase but if you are a student teacher and passionate about children’s mental and physical health please reach out to me and I may be able to help you invest in the programme at a heavily discounted rate.
Vic is a specialist children’s yoga teacher, experienced classroom teacher and founder of The Inner Child Yoga School. It’s her mission to share the benefits of yoga with all children. She has online programmes for children and schools and a variety of free resources to help parents and teachers share yoga and mindfulness with children. Find all the resources and more information on www.innerchildyogaschool.com or get in touch on social media @inner_child_yoga_school
I was a Primary school teacher for six years, so I know how much you’re already trying to think about. But I ask you, just for a moment, to really think about the mental health of your class. Is every child benefitting from your calm corner or only those who actively seek it out? And if I child does go into the space, do they know how to use it? It is essential for all children to learn about their mental health and build a range of strategies to help them notice the very early signs of struggling and then know what they can do about it. The good news is that you can actually teach these strategies, whole class, in a very short period of time - and once children know them, they can use them throughout their entire lives! For example, when I child knows they can ease feelings of anxiety by lengthening their exhale, they can do this anytime, anywhere without anyone knowing!
I find transition times are a great pocket of time to introduce mindfulness. Why not begin the day with everyone rubbing their hands together to generate some warmth, then placing them on their chests and taking a deep breath. When everyone is slumped on their desks after lunch could they take some deep woodchopper breaths to re-energise? Could children spend five minuets in the day jotting some some things they feel grateful for or journaling about how they felt when they tried something new or faced a setback? If our ultimate goal is for children to grow up as happy, fulfilled and contributing member’s of society we need to teach them these skills.
As a specialist children’s yoga teacher, I would of course, highly recommend fitting yoga into your curriculum. Yoga has a host of physical and mental benefits for children and is great for building confidence, giving a lifelong form of fitness and increasing attention spans. Take a look at your PE curriculum or after school club offerings and see if you can make a little space for some yoga.
If you’re interested in sharing yoga within your school on a wider scale I have an entire programme to enable any teacher to set up a safe and effective yoga club. The programme is usually available for schools to purchase but if you are a student teacher and passionate about children’s mental and physical health please reach out to me and I may be able to help you invest in the programme at a heavily discounted rate.
Vic is a specialist children’s yoga teacher, experienced classroom teacher and founder of The Inner Child Yoga School. It’s her mission to share the benefits of yoga with all children. She has online programmes for children and schools and a variety of free resources to help parents and teachers share yoga and mindfulness with children. Find all the resources and more information on www.innerchildyogaschool.com or get in touch on social media @inner_child_yoga_school
The Importance of Budgets-- @nurserymanagertoareamanager
I was recently promoted to area manager, but first let’s start at the very beginning of my career. My first “real” job was in a Montessori nursery, it was poorly run and inadequately resourced, there were very little Montessori resources and my whole time there we never received any new resources. I lasted less than a year.
I then moved onto a family run business and although it was run well it was also poorly resourced. On numerous occasions we received new resources only because Ofsted had called. When I say it was run well it was very controlling, we weren’t allowed to have internet and still used a fax machines, up until the year 2018! We weren’t allowed coloured ink in our printers. That gives the scope on how under resourced and controlled the setting was.
Fast forward 11 years and I finally got the courage to leave. In 2019 I embarked on my next adventure and took on a manager position. In my first week I heard the sentence “let’s talk about the budget”. This was a term in the 12 years of my career I had never heard. I was amazed, here I am in a company registered as a charity, serving the community as well as the low daily charge to parents and there was a budget. A budget to replace toys, to buy new toys. A budget for staffing, cleaning products, the list was endless. This seems like something that should be normal but no, for me it was outstanding.
I’ve been with my company three years and in those three years I’ve seen the importance of having a budget but actually it comes down to always striving to offer the best resources for both staff and children. As a early years educator we see how often thoughts on education change and therefore how important it is for us to reflect that in our environment.
My advice to anyone starting out in any early years career, is- ask about the budget! Don’t be afraid to ask, it’s vital as it also reflects the views of those hiring you and whether it aligns with your own.
I then moved onto a family run business and although it was run well it was also poorly resourced. On numerous occasions we received new resources only because Ofsted had called. When I say it was run well it was very controlling, we weren’t allowed to have internet and still used a fax machines, up until the year 2018! We weren’t allowed coloured ink in our printers. That gives the scope on how under resourced and controlled the setting was.
Fast forward 11 years and I finally got the courage to leave. In 2019 I embarked on my next adventure and took on a manager position. In my first week I heard the sentence “let’s talk about the budget”. This was a term in the 12 years of my career I had never heard. I was amazed, here I am in a company registered as a charity, serving the community as well as the low daily charge to parents and there was a budget. A budget to replace toys, to buy new toys. A budget for staffing, cleaning products, the list was endless. This seems like something that should be normal but no, for me it was outstanding.
I’ve been with my company three years and in those three years I’ve seen the importance of having a budget but actually it comes down to always striving to offer the best resources for both staff and children. As a early years educator we see how often thoughts on education change and therefore how important it is for us to reflect that in our environment.
My advice to anyone starting out in any early years career, is- ask about the budget! Don’t be afraid to ask, it’s vital as it also reflects the views of those hiring you and whether it aligns with your own.
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