School Wellness Optimal Vitality

Learning the life lesson of how to manage emotions and thrive

Why it is so important for younger children to learn emotional wellness skills

Children absorb all the energy around them like sponges and energy is contagious!

From the ages of 0-7, children receive their ‘programming’ from parents, other key people in their lives, teachers, their experiences and the environment around them. Programming and the associated emotional attachment created in response to the experiences during this time are a blend of positive, comforting thoughts but also negative, limiting thoughts.

Limiting thoughts and beliefs include not feeling good enough, fear of failure, feeling vulnerable and unsafe.  These negative emotions will run on and affect children’s behaviours, beliefs and thought processes for life unless they find a way to release the emotional connection with the limiting thoughts and beliefs.

That’s why creating a positive, supportive and calm classroom environment is important to every teacher and every young child.  This is especially true for the prime learning years where teachers are able to optimise children's self-worth by developing ability to self-soothe, self-regulate, learn and thrive for many years to come.

 

Behind every child’s behaviour, there is an emotion

The stress and emotions that teachers and children experience today are immense, particularly with the additional stresses and disruptions of 2020 and 2021. Children arrive at the school gates with school bags, lunch boxes and an invisible rucksack of daily stresses or anxieties, worries or fears.

Even with loving parents and caring teachers, children (especially younger children) do not know how to access and release daily stresses, anxieties, worries or fears.  Without expert emotional wellness training teachers are unlikely to know, and cannot be expected to know, optimal ways to help the children to do this. 

Behaviour management is emotion management

Behind every episode of unwelcome behaviour in the classroom, there is a negative emotion which is outwardly displayed when children become angry, upset or sad. This means the child is likely to be feeling anxious and vulnerable and can be viewed as a clear cry for help.

The more we understand children’s emotions, show them ways to understand, reduce and manage their daily stresses and self soothe, the more we are able to encourage and see positive behaviour resulting in happier, more confident, healthier children, in the classroom and at home.

Data showing the need for emotional wellness tools and support

  • Pupil wellbeing

    Promoting physical and mental health in schools creates a virtuous circle, reinforcing children’s attainment and achievement, that in turn improves their wellbeing, enabling children to thrive and achieve their full potential.” Chief Medical Officer of England.

    Source: PHE report : The link between pupil health and wellbeing and attainment

    • 1 in 6 children aged 5 – 16 are likely to have a mental health condition.
    • 50% of all mental health problems start by the age of 14.
    • 75% of young people with mental health problems aren’t getting the help they need.
    • 34% of children referred don’t get accepted for treatment.

  • Teacher wellbeing
    • The 2020 Teacher Wellbeing Index published every year by the Education Support charity, reveals a dramatic increase in teacher stress symptoms, especially ones related to depression and anxiety.

    The mental health of UK educators is under more strain than that of the rest of the population, with the exception of essential health workers. The survey gathered the 2020 data from 3,034 education professionals.

    Here are the key takeaways:

    • 82% of teachers currently describe themselves as stressed from working, with over 46% saying that pressures on their mental health and wellbeing have caused them to consider leaving the profession in this academic year.
    • 52% reported suffering from insomnia in 2020, compared to 37% in 2018 and 2019.
    • 41% reported tearfulness, compared to 26% in previous years.
    • 40% reported difficulty concentrating, compared to the previous 23%.
    • Up to 94% of stressful teachers reported a visible drop in their classroom energy during the times they were stressed. (Source: Education Support June 2020)
    • 77% feel their declining mental health is affecting their students’ progress in a negative way (source: TES)

  • Link between pupil wellbeing and attainment
    • Successfully attaining GCSEs (five or more A*-C) is strongly associated with higher levels of life satisfaction in young people.
    • A UK study published by the Department for Education (DfE) found that pupil wellbeing predicted their later academic progression and engagement in school. For example, pupils with better emotional wellbeing at age seven had a value-added key stage 2 score 2.46 points higher (equivalent to more than one term’s progress than pupils with poorer emotional wellbeing.
    • DfE research also found that pupils with better attention skills also make more progress across the four key stages. For example, pupils with no attention problems at age 13 had a total value-added GCSE score that was equivalent to more than one extra GCSE at grade A* (63.38 points higher).
    • OFSTED judgement and links to pupil health and wellbeing and health. Achievement of pupils • an 11% boost in results in standardised achievement tests has been linked to school programmes that directly improve students’ social and emotional learning.

    Source: PHE report : The link between pupil health and wellbeing and attainment : A briefing for head teachers, governors and staff in education settings


 

Support Solutions

  • How to support teaching staff and children with emotional wellness?

    Children learn the 3 r’s (Reading, writing, arithmetic), how to ride a bike, play an instrument, but I believe there is another set of 3R’s that are key life and wellness skills that children need to learn in school to thrive in the classroom and in life – how to Relax, Release stresses and Rebalance. Every education professional deserves to be provided with effective, empowering wellness tools that help them to be in the best wellness space for themselves, and also for their class, creating an optimal teaching and learning environment, and an improved quality of life for teaching staff, both in and out of the classroom. That’s why it was really important for me to bring together all of my expertise to support both teachers and children across the whole school with my Stresses to Smiles for Schools® programme which delivers:-

    • An emotional wellness toolkit that KS1 and KS2 teachers can use to support themselves and pupils every day.
    • A ready to deliver, structured classroom-based course, primarily designed for years 1-3, with many resources that can be used across the school.
    • Key concepts and tools in a fun, creative and layered learning way
    • Easy integration into dedicated PHSE lesson time, every day teaching in bitesize elements
    • Pre-frame and 3x daily tools videos for KS2.

  • Stresses to Smiles® for Schools Programme Summary
    • Empowering teachers through expert wellness training first to empower pupils second.
    • Sharing simple, always available, easily learned, effective stress reduction, emotional wellness tools in a non-intrusive, fun, interactive and inclusive way.
    • Providing lesson plan resources, engaging interactive tools, videos and handouts to optimise the learning and minimising time and effort needed by teachers and staff members to adopt the programme
    • Giving teaching staff a flexible strategy to use the content to get the optimal outcome for the class and pupils – whom they know best.
    • Key concepts and tools shared in a fun, creative and layered learning way.
    • Sharing tools to provide physical, emotional, self awareness and self management benefits that can be used at school and at home


  • Positive Impact Results Summary to date (full feedback details available on request)
    • Improving academic progress and attainment, self-reliance, confidence levels, emotional resilience, focus and concentration.
    • Reducing stress and increasing calmness creating more positive behaviour in the classroom, and strengthening communication allowing safeguarding issues to be highlighted.
    • Supporting the wellbeing of teaching staff and pupils. Stress and emotions such as fear, anxiety, worry and anger can affect sleep, cause pain and reduce the power of the immune system therefore more emotional wellness and balance = a stronger immune system.
    • Highlighting the internal resources that children have within them and can use anytime to self soothe, self-balance, self-regulate and positively change the way they feel, in an enjoyable, easy and non-intrusive way.
    • Improving emotional balance, clarity, focus and concentration for the teacher, teaching assistants and pupils which in turn optimised the classroom environment.
    • Showing how energy is contagious, creating ripples of calmness, balance and clarity from teacher → child → class →playground → school → families → homes → social.

What teachers say about the programme:

“It was amazing, it was one of the best things that I’ve done in all my 32 years of teaching." Year 3 Teacher.

“I could see how much they had learnt, and how much your sessions had had an impact on these children. They just got it. The way you had the continuing in the sessions and the quick recap, just worked so well with the children. It was brilliant.” Year 3 Teacher

“The course is presented in an upbeat way by someone who is very passionate about what they were trying to achieve. I have found the tapping technique very helpful when feeling stressed or experiencing pain or discomfort. Something you can do discreetly when you find yourself in a stressful situation. The course is good for stress and refocusing.” ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant)

“It ticked the boxes for all the children, from the children who have SEND (additional needs) right through to the children who are high performing.” Year 3 Teacher

“I liked the daily practice sessions so I used the videos, as well as doing them ourselves, for mindfulness moments. They were really good every day, they worked really well.“ Year 3 Teacher

“By the end of the programme, I was looking at their work thinking, oh my goodness, they have done much better work than they have for a long time. There were 4 children where they had been borderline on attainment, but I was able to clearly see evidence of progress which I had been looking for a while, and all of sudden, they had more resilience to work independently, and show this in their work, so I was able to move them up a level.”  Year 3 Teacher

 

What pupils say about the programme

Dear Lou

… I really liked it all because it is calming.

… tapping helps me when I am stressed or angry.

… I loved tapping, it calmed me down and helped me.

… it really helps me when I’m worried.

… when I had a stucky, the superpowers really helped me.

What to do next:

Please get in touch if you are an education professional, and would like a no obligation discussion where you can find out more about my exciting, empowering programme.

Full details of Programme Content and the feedback and positive shifts are available on request. Contact me to discuss more.