In the 2022 summer term the whole school took part in Mindfulness Minutes, an Eco Schools project that supports the Healthy living and Schools Grounds topics.

This was a 4 week long project designed to get children and staff thinking and talking about their mental health and well-being.

Mindfulness has many definitions, put simply it means being more aware of what is going on around us and learning from what we find. To do this we need to pay full attention to all our senses, rather than getting swept up in life and our school routine.

Our 4 weeks ran concurrently and each class recorded the total number of mindfulness minutes achieved at the end of the 4 weeks. We will use the recorded minutes to set target to try and achieve even more minutes of mindfulness next academic year.

The children all initially completed a set of 15 questions the mindfulness review.

At the start of the 4 week period the questions scoring highest for the whole school were

Q3 I notice what my body feels like when I am upset or angry

Q5 I think about the nice things that happened in school when I get home

Q12 If I make a mistake in class I learn from it and move on quickly

At the start of the 4 week period the questions scoring lowest for the whole school were

Q1 When I'm walking to school and pass a flower along the way, i regularly stop to smell and appreciate it

Q6 I listen to what I can hear when in the school grounds at break time and lunch time

Q15 I think about each of my five senses everyday

After the 4 weeks of mindfulness were completed we decided to complete the review once more, to see if there was any change.

At the end of the 4 week period the questions scoring highest for the whole school were

Q3 I notice what my body feels like when I am upset or angry

Q5 I think about the nice things that happened in school when I get home

Q12 If I make a mistake in class I learn from it and move on quickly

along with

Q9 When my friend or teacher talks to me I think about nothing else and concentrate on them

Q14 I regularly take time to stop and think how amazing nature is

At the end of the 4 week period the questions scoring lowest for the whole school were

Q1 When I'm walking to school and pass a flower along the way, i regularly stop to smell and appreciate it

Q6 I listen to what I can hear when in the school grounds at break time and lunch time

Q15 I think about each of my five senses everyday

Q7 I try not to worry about things I can't control