“The supported placements from MiSP have enabled us to develop a culture of Mindfulness in our setting. The supported placements have helped to create that like-minded skilled team to deliver curricula for all ages in a range of settings.”
As a charity, MiSP, offers its training through two routes:
- One is directly to schools (or individual teachers) who pay for the training from their own budgets or fundraising initiatives.
- The other is through MiSP’s own fundraising initiatives, being able to support teachers and schools that our funders and MiSP, are particularly keen to reach, via MiSP’s Supported Places.
What are MiSP Supported Places?
The programme provides partly or fully funded places on all its courses for UK schools either with higher-than-average pupils receiving free school meals, with identified SEN and/ or with English as an additional language. MiSP can also consider other factors if the educational setting has a high proportion of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. If in doubt, it is always best to get in touch, we’d love to hear from you and explore what may be possible.
What has the MiSP Supported Places programme achieved to date?
Since the programme officially launched (in 2016), MiSP has financially supported almost 1,000 places on its courses for schools all over the UK, to a total of over £170,000. In 2021/22, this amounts to 26% of people attending training doing so with some financial support from MiSP.
Feedback from our supported places teachers
“I feel so proud to be able to share my love of Mindfulness with the children in our school. I teach across the school so all children have the opportunity to experience the benefits of Mindfulness.”
In a recent survey of over 250 recipients of supported places, the teachers said that they had found the following benefits of teaching mindfulness in their school.
We also asked for examples of how mindfulness had benefitted pupils and here are some of the examples given:
Better self regulation
“One pupil in particular, who suffers with anger management, developed coping mechanisms based on paws b. He used petal breathing and could describe body clues to prevent his anger developing.”
“Children who were experiencing overwhelm at school able to access a space within themselves reducing their tendency to lash out”
Sleep
“A pupil with anxiety issues really enjoyed the .b course, she reported feeling calmer and it helped her to have that ‘breathing space’ and her sleep was better.”
Coping with difficulty, anxiety and worry.
“a 7-year-old boy who struggled with his emotions that before the practice, his tummy felt like a waterfall but now it feels like a calm lake.”
“A pupil unable to walk around school because of anxiety has developed her self-esteem and confidence in approaching new situations in spite of her epilepsy.”
Improved focus at school, and in exams and tests.
An ASD student told me they use the .b to help to give them greater control of their focus in class.
“Children asked for mindfulness practice before taking 11+ and SATs tests. Children suffering from anxiety-related issues are able to help manage their anxiety using specific practices.”
It helped young people at home.
“A child was experiencing distress at home & commented that Paws b provided ‘ a pocket of peace’ in their mind.”
“ a pupil said his mum lost her house keys and he helped her with mindful breathing”
Introducing Mindfulness in your school or settings can make a genuine difference to the school, to you as a teacher and to the young people you care for.
“The course changed my outlook on life and allowed me to develop an understanding in children. It is wonderful and I just wish it was compulsory in schools.”
You can delve into specific examples from a range of settings through our case studies and we would like to say a special thank you to all our supported places teachers that took the time to share their feedback.
How do I apply for a bursary for our school?
Also, if you have any questions about supported places or about funding mindfulness in your school, please contact enquiries@mindfulnessinschools.org. We would be delighted to hear from you.
How do I contribute financially to supporting teachers and schools?
If you would like to fund places, then please contact us to set up a bursary – no donation is too small! We are delighted to have recently received funding from a donor for 5 Teach Paws b places in the UK and we would be very pleased to hear from donors internationally as well.
We are also very grateful to the CHK Foundation which has recently allowed us to offer highly subsidised places for EYFS, KS1 and KS2 in England and Wales for schools with higher-than-average free school meals.
How do I raise funds for my school (that does not meet the criteria)
If your school would like to do (more) training and needs to find funding for this – and does not meet the supported places criteria – please see ideas for accessing funding.
If you or colleagues, parents or students would like to actively run a fundraising event, do get in touch as we’d love to hear from you. You can also find ideas in this MiSP Fundraising Pack.