MiSP Inclusion and Support Groups

The agenda of the meeting will vary according to the needs of the group but broadly each meeting will include an arrival practice, introductions, case studies, group discussion and a departure practice.

The themes for the first year are as follows:

• Autumn 2020 – What are the specific challenges this group faces teaching mindfulness in schools?

• Spring 2021 – What can be done to overcome some of the challenges this group faces teaching mindfulness in schools?

• Summer 2021 – Are there particular resources or activities that MiSP could develop to support this group in schools?

Once you have joined an Inclusion and Support group, you will be very welcome as all the termly meetings. Members are asked to be guided by the values of mindfulness, showing curiosity, kindness and respect to each other, and to follow the guidance of the Chair.

Each Inclusion and Support group will have a meeting Chair, responsible for opening and closing the meeting, steering the agenda, introducing each item, moderating any discussion and keeping the meeting to time. The Chair will seek to ensure all voices are heard and the meeting is conducted with curiosity, kindness and respect.

We are very grateful to have the following group Chairs for 2020 / 2021:

• BAME group – Adrian Bethune

Adrian is a part-time teacher at a primary school in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire and delivers wellbeing-focused training in schools across Europe through his organisation www.teachappy.co.uk. He is also a MiSP Associate Trainer, Education Policy Co-Lead for the Mindfulness Initiative and author of the award-winning, Wellbeing In The Primary Classroom – A Practical Guide To Teaching Happiness (Bloomsbury, 2018), writes regularly for the TES and has contributed to several other books.

• Men’s group – Richard Burnett

Richard is co-founder of Mindfulness in Schools Project and co-wrote .b. MiSP’s flagship course, as well as other MiSP curricula. He is a teacher at Tonbridge School and has taught mindfulness to well over a thousand adolescents, as well as to many school staff and school parents.

• SEND group – Clare Winter

Clare leads the KS3 centre and school reintegration at Dacorum Education Support Centre where she is the School Mindfulness Lead and SENDCo. She has worked in special education in the UK for over 14 years and is passionate about helping disenfranchised young people to flourish by building resilience and positive mental health. Clare is trained to teach .b, .breathe and the .b Foundations curriculum.

• Independent Teachers group – Nicola Beattie
  

Nicola directs and co-ordinates Lincs Associates. She has an extensive background in education, and taught for a number of years focussing primarily on working with children and young people at risk of exclusion from the mainstream. Since 2000 Nicola has worked independently as a consultant managing and providing Training, CPD and SEMH interventions into a wide range of schools and settings across the North West of England. Nicola is trained to teach Paws b and .breathe and operates as an external provider across the Liverpool City Region and East Lancashire.

Each Inclusion and Support group will also have a Secretary who will maintain brief notes of the meeting, capturing key themes and any actions arising, which will be circulated to all members of the group.