A Message From The Principal
End of week 5! We are halfway through term 3. Everyone is doing a wonderful job and the feedback has been extremely positive from teachers and parents. We continue to thank you for your efforts. This time in our lives is not easy – it is hard, very hard, remember to be kind to yourselves. If there is nice weather go outside and enjoy it, if you need a break take it, if you need to stop for the day because it is not working for any of you do it. Make it work for your situation. Some days will be harder than others – be kind to yourselves.
- ON- SITE attendance – as we continue to state we attempt to keep the numbers onsite as low as possible. We appreciate everyone’s support with this. I send out the form every WEDNESDAY MORNING for the following week on Sentral via email and push notification. If you do not receive this on the Wednesday please contact the office. Our cut off is THURSDAY at 3pm. These forms must be done EACH WEEK. Please support us with this. We cannot take late enrolments for on-site as we must staff it according to the numbers we receive. We are getting quite a few parents email and say they didn’t receive the form, if this is the case it means there is an issue with your Sentral account so please contact the office immediately.
- WEBEX CATCH UPS – in week 6 (next week) teachers will be holding live Webex wellbeing catch-ups with their class. They are very excited about these and we look forward to seeing everyone’s faces. Teachers’ Webex Links can be found here.
- PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE DAYS –next week our Prep and Junior teachers will be having their term 3 Professional Practice Days. Prep teachers will be on Monday and Juniors on Tuesday. Ms Grass will be doing the morning and afternoon videos on these days and answering any of your questions. Middle and Senior teachers will be holding their Professional Practice Days in Week 8.
- PJ Day! – on Thursday ALL children and teachers – onsite or at home –can choose to participate in PJ Day! This is just a fun day to bring a smile to our faces. We will encourage everyone to post a photo and share our day.
Like always, we do not know what changes may be announced on the weekend however we will endeavour to ensure that we keep you as up to date as possible with any changes.vStay safe, take care and please contact the teachers or the school if you have any questions or concerns. We are here to assist you. Have a lovely weekend.
Suzanne Prendergast
Principal
Whole School News
The Captains’ Crusade
Each week our student leaders will share a post to the school community with a focus on maintaining connection and having fun. They are looking forward to presenting a new theme each week and involving the other student leaders within the school. Check out this week’s edition below…
Wellbeing
The importance of mindfulness for children
Our mental health is as important as our physical health
Just as we teach kids to read, write, count, eat well and stay fit to keep their learning levels high and their bodies healthy, teaching children how to proactively care for their mind is equally important. Bellaire teachers integrate mindfulness for students into their classes regularly, providing opportunities throughout a ‘normal’ school week to teach and model to their students how to be mindful and be present. They use a range of fantastic free mindfulness resources and apps to help facilitate it.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment with openness, curiosity and without judgement.
There is more science-backed evidence for the benefits of mindfulness in easing anxiety than ever before. We live in a time when childhood anxiety is more prevalent than previously thought. Thankfully we are realising that teaching mindfulness to children is just as important, if not more important, than it is for adult minds in preventing the symptoms of anxiety from an early age. With three quarters of all mental health disorders emerging by the time a young person reaches 24, it’s clear that prevention and early intervention is important.
How mindfulness improves students’ ability to learn
- It improves attention, meaning students are more capable of taking in new information without being distracted by internal reactions or preconceived perspectives.
- It improves working memory, cognitive flexibility, reasoning, planning, goal directed behaviour and self-regulation, essential skills when it comes to learning new information.
- It reduces emotional reactivity, behavioural issues, anxiety and depression. This means students have fewer potential obstacles standing in the way of their learning.
Results of mindfulness in education
The results of the Mindfulness in Schools Research that Smiling Minds conducted with over 1500 schools in 2016 indicated that practising mindfulness is hugely beneficial for both students and teachers. The results indicated that practising mindfulness can assist with students’ sleep, wellbeing, managing emotions, concentration and classroom school behaviour. It also found that mindfulness leads to student engagement in learning and positive emotional wellbeing for students, and the more students practiced the more benefits they experienced over time.
Teachers reported:
- Improvements in sleep quality,
- Improved concentration,
- Enhanced wellbeing
- Enhanced ability to manage and describe emotions
- as well as significant reductions in distress and tension.
Students reported:
- improvements in their sleep and
- reductions in the experience of bullying and classroom disruptions.
Students more at-risk of emotional difficulties also reported:
- improvements in emotional wellbeing,
- reduced psychological distress,
- enhanced positive wellbeing,
- enhanced ability to manage emotions and
- improvements in concentration.
Digital Care Packs to support kids through COVID-19 and beyond
Learning mindfulness does not start or end in the classroom, parents and family members also play a key role. We want to involve the entire community when it comes to teaching mindfulness and that’s why we encourage families to get involved.
Smiling Mind are offering free Digital Care Packs which provide tips and guidance on how to build positive mental health in children, and offer a range of simple, evidence-based activities that can be used with children aged five to 12 years to provide immediate relief against worry and anxiety, or used to support a proactive positive mental health approach. Each pack explores related topics and contains downloadable activities for children.
Personally, I use this resource regularly and experience great benefits from it, particularly when I put it on just before bed, I find it leads me to having a restful night’s sleep. The kids’ section of the app is next level amazing. For adults, it breaks down mindfulness and meditation into something that is not only manageable and achievable, but outright beneficial.
If you would like assistance to support your child’s mental health and wellbeing over the coming weeks, please contact your teachers. Additionally, please feel free to reach out to me.
Stay well,
Ben Raidme
Assistant Principal
* I will also share the following article, written by Jo Stanley (a Melbourne radio-show host and comedian), who reflects on her experience with childhood anxiety and how mindfulness practices for children are helping her little girl Willow with her anxiety. She hopes that sharing her experience with other parents will show them the incredible benefits mindfulness can have on their own children.
There’s a common misconception that life gets harder the older you get. That childhood is idyllic and stress-free, full of butterflies, fairies, playgrounds, ice cream, and not much else. Adults often behave as though our responsibilities have earned us a monopoly on the darker emotions, like anxiety, stress, depression or just that intangible flatness. But we know that being young is hard. That kids can be stressed, uncertain and fearful. And most alarmingly for parents, that they can feel this way without us even being aware.
Ways childhood anxiety affected me
One of my earliest memories is of my mother taking me to doctor after doctor, seeking an answer for the tummy aches I constantly complained of. Each one examined me, some conducted further tests, all of them reached the same conclusion. My problem was psychosomatic. I didn’t know what that meant. All I knew was that I was in pain, and no one could help me. Looking back now I know that what I was experiencing was in fact childhood anxiety. I eventually grew out of those stomach pains, however throughout my childhood it was labelled many things and manifested itself in many ways. Extreme shyness, self-consciousness, stage fright, a disconnectedness from those around me. I didn’t have the language to explain it, or even the understanding of mental health to know that it was possible to feel different. Now as an adult, through many strategies – therapy, exercise, mindfulness – I do know it is possible to be happier and more at peace with who I am. I’m sad for the little girl that I was. I wish I could reach back through time and hold her and tell it is going to be OK. In fact, I do this regularly in my mindfulness and meditation practice. But I also am determined to make a difference to this generation’s children, to the kids in my world, to my own precious daughter, Willow.
Mindfulness is helping prevent further anxiety
This is why mindfulness exercises for children, and using apps such as Smiling Mind, has become a regular part of the conversation and play that Willow and I share. My goal is to build mindful practices into her thinking, so that it is habit and she is prepared before things get rough, before the tummy aches take over. The great thing is that children are naturally inclined to mindfulness, and the self-acceptance it calls for. Unless someone teaches them otherwise, they are non-judgemental and non-critical – of either others or themselves. If you get them early enough, a sense of being present is all they know. I have been inspired by watching Willow’s complete focus on the thing she is doing and the moment she is in, with not one thought for the past or future (just try and get a 7-year-old to hurry and you’ll know this!). And their joyful sense of play and imagination connects them easily with the journey a mindfulness meditation takes you on. In fact, we can learn a lot from the way children engage with their mindfulness practice. I have found it to be very moving to watch!
Making mindfulness for children easy
Free mindfulness and meditation apps (such as Smiling Mind or Calm) are instrumental in positive wellbeing for children. They have been, and continue to be, a continued source of growth for Willow’s self-discovery and growing resilience. She is a clever, creative and kind little person, but she is also highly sensitive. Mindfulness can CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Want to turn torturous negative self-talk, crippling anxiety, insomnia and strained relationships into self-compassion, confidence, restful sleep and joyful and loving relationships? I did, with mindfulness.
6 Mindfulness and Meditation Apps for Kids
1. Headspace for Kids
The popular adult mindfulness app now has a kids’ series of breathing exercises, visualisations, and meditations grouped into five categories: kindness, focus, sleep, calm, and wake-up. Choose the one that best suits your child’s needs. 5 and under, 6 to 8, 9 to 12