Wellbeing Continued from page 28


highest attainment – like our Olympic athletes. I believe that music and other wellbeing practices give that confi dence, belief and resilience to face the challenges of school.” Music is one part of a multifaceted approach to wellbeing used at


St Giles’ School. Ms Nichols has implemented the practice of regular wellbeing exercises, breathing and meditation techniques, outside learning and building a communal peace garden. She added: “I feel it’s essential to make integrated wellbeing practices


embedded within the culture of a school, so they don’t get lost or forgotten within a busy classroom. Outside learning is really benefi cial, especially for boys. We have to walk to our school field so it was important to make a green space on site so we created a peace garden. Having taught in London I know how important even a small green space can be. “All the children were involved in its creation and this has helped to


make it somewhere they identify with. It’s a quiet place but also a place of joy and has been really useful for music lessons, yoga and acting. “We sing every day. It’s physical and gets you awake and ready, your


body warmed up and brain fi lled with oxygen. Songs that are lively and have actions we make up seem to work best. Children leave assembly with big smiles, feeling really positive, renewed and refreshed by the music we have made together – they are going back into their lessons really ready for learning.” Has this integration of wellbeing practices helped the school’s


Time-out: Pupils take some time to reflect in the peace garden at St Giles Primary School (see case study below)


Sara Adam said yoga is helping children prepare for learning: “Perhaps they haven’t got that support for education at home. They may not be coming out to school ready and settled, (conditions) which contribute to children learning. Yoga combats those issues because lots of children need movement and breaks in the day when they can get their self-discipline back.”


Music and wellbeing in action Jinnie Nichols took over as headteacher at St Giles’ CE Primary School in Essex in September 2010. Though it is a small, rural school, one of the fi rst issues to tackle was improving the standards of behaviour. “When I walked out on the playground on my fi rst day I thought I needed body armour,” Ms Nichols said. She spent her fi rst year fi nding ways of bringing the school together as


a community and used the daily assembly – “my golden 15 minutes with the children” – as a way to do this. Like many schools, St Giles has a collection of percussion instruments.


For her fi rst musical assembly, she asked the children if they had ever played them, none had. She then asked if anyone would like to. “They all looked at me with terror in their faces,” she said. “One brave


soul fi nally came forward and we went from there, in twos, threes and now every child in the school has an instrument to play in assembly.” It is a journey that has seen children and members of staff grow in


confi dence and ability, leading to a performance at the O2 arena with the Young Voices Choir and recording backing vocals for a world healing music album. Ofsted rated the music assembly as “outstanding” and the


Statutory Inspection of Anglican Schools’ inspector said it was “truly inspirational”. Ms Nichols continued: “We have no musicians in our school. Nobody can play the piano. Everything is from CDs and our percussion instruments. We have found the Out of the Ark resources really useful as well as Sing Up. We use these as well as topical songs such as the Jubilee song Sing and just match our instruments and voices to the sounds we hear. “The key to success is to have an attitude of no judgement. This


encourages participation and confi dence, self-belief and focus. I had diffi cult experiences with singing at drama school that affected my confi dence and I know many adults feel they can’t sing. This is not true – we can all enjoy music. My advice to other teachers is to be brave and follow a simple rule to control children with so many instruments: in assembly, when we’re not playing, the instruments are on the fl oor and not touched. “A big issue for education is that when faced with challenges, children


can give up too easily – one extreme response is tears, another is disruption within the classroom. Eliminating self-doubt and believing you have the ability to succeed has been shown to be crucial for the


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attainment? The SAT results this year were the best they have had for years and the attainment across the whole school is strengthening and progress accelerating. Ms Nichols added: “I believe the profi le of wellbeing and music at our school has greatly contributed to this.”


Conclusion Research and case studies advocate that your school can benefit by making wellbeing practices part of school life. There are now many tools and resources available (including some at little or no cost) to help your school achieve and excel.


• Giles Bryant is the founder of the Wellbeing In Schools initiative and can be contacted at info@worldhealingproject.com


Further information n Video of the fi ve-minute wellbeing exercises, guided meditations, and details of school wellbeing sessions: www.wellbeinginschools.com


n Yoga information/training: www.yogaatschool.org.uk n Resources, workshops and training to enable teachers to integrate mediation and relaxation techniques: www.relaxkids.com


n Resources and ideas for singing: www.singup.org n A wonderful way to bring healthy eating into schools using guided lesson plans and recipes: www.foodmagician.com


Wellbeing research and further reading


n Clinical Applications of Yoga for the Pediatric Population: A systematic review. Harvard University, 2009.


n A Journey of Self-discovery: An intervention involving massage, yoga and relaxation for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties attending primary schools. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 2008.


n Published research on the Transcendental Meditation programme in education over the last 38 years shows: Increased intelligence, improved academic performance, increased self-development, reduced anxiety and decreased depression.


n The recent bookMusic and the Young Mind: Enhancing Brain Development and Engaging Learning by Maureen Harris provides a good review of the subject.


n Research by the National Foundation for Education Research shows many benefi ts of outside learning: improved independence, confi dence, self-esteem, locus of control, self- effi cacy, personal effectiveness, coping strategies and helping interpersonal and social skills.


n Child Nutrition and School Life Outcomes, from the Bristol Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning addresses the connection between good nutrition and attainment.


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