School Counsellor News

Next week is Wellbeing Week at St Saviour’s Primary. Wellbeing Week is an opportunity for us, as a community, to re-connect with all that makes us feel good. In line with our exploration into Positive Education, this Term’s Wellbeing Week will focus on the pillar of “Positive Engagement”. This domain helps students and staff to experience complete immersion in activities through understanding the nature of engagement, the pathways to it, and the impact it has on individual wellbeing. Engaged individuals are curious, interested, motivated, and persistent in the face of challenges. Engaged individuals also report higher self-esteem, optimism and lower pessimism.

Next week our staff and students will be completing a variety of mindfulness activities and brain breaks to help enhance positive engagement in all aspects of our school life. Studies over the last 20 years have shown promising results, suggesting brain breaks and mindfulness have multiple benefits for student learning. These benefits include improved cognitive functioning, increased motivation, improved attention, promotion of pro-social behaviour, reduced anxiety/stress, and enhanced ability to sustain focus for academic work. By providing students with a social and fun break in a lesson, there is an increased opportunity and a new context for strengthening student-student and teacher-student relationships. Brain breaks alter the classroom climate by introducing a new collective action. Such activities have been shown to increase students’ positive emotions and enjoyment within the classroom.

You may wish to try a Mindful Moment at home this week. Follow this link and have a go! https://youtu.be/sF2jHewPc-4

Wishing everyone a positive and engaging Wellbeing Week.

Anne Woodcroft Brown

School Counsellor