Mindfulness for all schools in Warrington

Please see below for direct links to upcoming courses.

You can find out more about .begin here.

If you are ready to progress to a train to teach course you can find out more about the curricula here.

 

IN-PERSON COURSES

If you would prefer to attend an in-person course, please see the courses below which will be taking place at Birchwood Community High School in February 2025:

 

• Teach Paws b (for 7-11 year olds) – Daytime – 11th, 12th, 27th and 28th February 2025
• Teach .b (for 11-18 year olds) – Daytime – 13th, 14th, 25th and 26th February 2025

 

LIVE, ONLINE COURSES

If you would like to attend a live, online course via Zoom, please do apply* for one of upcoming courses after agreeing the dates with your school:

2024/2025 Courses

begin

Evening Course .begin Tue 14th Jan 2025 – 25th Mar 2025 7.30pm – 9pm

Evening Course .begin Wed 15th Jan 2025 – 26th Mar 2025 7.30pm-9pm

Daytime Course .begin Wed 15th Jan 2025 – 26th Mar 2025 9.15am – 10.45am

 

Teach dots (3-6 year olds)

Daytime Course Tues 12th Nov – Fri 15th Nov 2024 9.30am – 3pm

Evening Course Wed 22nd Jan – 26th Mar 7pm – 9pm 

Daytime Course  Tue 18th Mar – Fri 21st Mar 9.30am – 3pm

 

Teach Paws b (7-11 year olds)

Daytime Course Tues 26th Nov – Fri 29th Nov 2024 9.30am – 3pm

Evening Course Tues 21st Jan – 25 Mar 7pm – 9pm 

Daytime Course Tues 11th Mar – Fri 14th Mar 9.30am – 3pm

 

Teach .b (11-18 year olds)

Daytime course Tues 19th Nov – Fri 22nd Nov 2024 9.30am – 3pm

Evening Course Wed 22nd Jan – 26th Mar 7pm – 9pm

Daytime Course Tue 4th Feb – Fri 7th Feb 2025 9.30am – 3pm

 

*IMPORTANT When applying, please choose the funding option “MiSP Supported Place” and enter the code “WARR”. The form will ask for details of who is paying for the place but it has already been funded by the “Peace in Mind” campaign. Please enter the following in those fields so you can submit the form: Peace in Mind – Warrington – Emma Mills – EMills@birchwoodhigh.org

Out of tragic circumstances, the aim of this project is to plant a seed of hope within the Warrington community. Esther Gheyʼs Peace in Mind campaign, working with the Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP), develops a Pathways mindfulness approach to nurturing whole school culture, offering ways of supporting communities in difficult times. The project has been generously funded by the Brianna Ghey: Peace in Mind Fundraiser so all places are being offered for free.

This project will train staff members in school so that they will:

• have an introduction to mindfulness for the purpose of supporting them in their own understanding of mindfulness and general wellbeing
• develop their own mindfulness practice for the long term
• be able to deliver a formal, age-specific mindfulness curriculum within their school
• support the embedding of a well-designed and sustainable mindfulness initiative, as part of an approach to the wellbeing of pupils and staff.

There are two stages in the training, .begin an introductory course for you followed by a Train to Teach course of your choice to equip you to teach an age-specific curriculum to the children in your setting.

All our training is live. The 8-week introductory course .begin is available online, so you can take part from the comfort of home.

.begin is an introduction to mindfulness designed to support participants’ understanding of mindfulness and their general wellbeing. It is delivered via Zoom over eight weeks via group sessions of approximately 90 minutes per week. If you have already completed an approved 8-week mindfulness course and embedded your practice for at least two months, you can progress straight to a train to teach course.

Read feedback from previous .begin participants here.

 

The Train to Teach courses can be done over 4 consecutive days in person, in Warrington or online in 4 consecutives days, 2 days a week split across two consecutive weeks or over 8-weeks as weekly 2hr evening sessions.

Teach dots trains participants to teach our dots curriculum to 3 to 6 year olds within their school. More information can be found at Teach dots (3-6).

Teach Paws b trains participants to teach our Paws b curriculum to 7 to 11 year olds within their school. More information can be found at Teach Paws b (7 – 11).

Teach .b trains participants to teach our .b curriculum to 11 to 18 year olds within their school. . More information can be found at Teach .b (11 – 18).

Read feedback from previous course participants here.

Read feedback from children and young people here.

Our online and in person courses are delivered in real time, in a supportive group environment, by highly experienced MiSP instructors. Online courses are delivered via video conferencing to enable interaction between you and your group.

During the 8-week .begin course you will have the opportunity to try range of mindfulness practices and other exercises and engage in small and whole group discussions. Mindfulness is about awareness, care and choice and you are encouraged to take the 90 minute weekly sessions as protected time for your well being.

The Train to Teach  courses combine teaching the curricula in real-time, so you can experience the lessons, discussions about pedagogy and opportunities to practice and share experience together.

We encourage you to take care of yourselves during training and, at the same time, invite you to participate actively in all sessions in order to get the best out of them.

Our curricula have been created by teachers and mindfulness experts for educators. All of our trainers have experience of working schools and we appreciate the challenges of finding space and time for CPD and to take care of ourselves.

The requirements below apply to all of our online training. To support your learning and to obtain the CPD certificates to be able to teach the children in your setting, we require that participants attend the training …

1. In a quiet space where they will not be interrupted, and not sharing a laptop or being in the same room as someone else attending the course (this is to avoid audio feedback issues).
2. Having checked all technology is working to a quality that allows for full engagement with the taught course.
3. With camera switched on, unless advised otherwise during the course (e.g. during lunch breaks).
4. Using a PC/laptop/Mac with reasonable broadband and a webcam. You cannot join the course using a mobile device or tablet as these may have limited functionality when using Zoom.
5. Taking part in the training as if the course was happening with everyone in the same room. This means stepping away from distractions (technology, work commitments etc.), and being fully committed to engaging in all taught sessions and activities.

Participants attending the course in their workplace must ensure that colleagues understand that they are not available for work-related tasks or responsibilities such as supervising students or attending meetings. It is helpful for SLT to support this. Putting a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door of the room you are in can make a difference!

We work with everyone working in education, teaching staff, support staff and Senior Leadership Teams. Any school staff member is eligible to attend this training provided they have the approval of their SLT and are committing to both phases of training: .begin, followed by an age-specific Train to Teach  course for the children they will be teaching.

No previous experience of mindfulness is required, but it is important that participants are willing to engage in mindfulness practices both during the training and beyond.

If you have already completed an approved 8-week mindfulness course and embedded your practice for at least two months, you can progress straight to a Train to Teach  course.

All primary and secondary settings in Warrington can nominate a member of staff in this initial phase of the programme.

If your setting would like to train more than one member of staff, please contact MiSP to see if further places are available.

Each individual staff member can simply click on the links to the training below. Given the invitational, voluntary nature of this training, individuals must apply directly themselves and cannot be signed up by colleagues.

This course is being funded by donations that have been made to the Brianna Ghey: Peace in Mind Fundraiser. Neither you nor your school will be invoiced for your place.

When applying you will be asked “How is your attendance being funded?”, please choose the option “MiSP Supported Place” then the code WARR.