Research into the impacts of mindfulness programmes in schools has tended to focus on older children of secondary school age. There are, happily, a growing number of research projects investigating the impacts on younger, pre-adolescent, children of primary school age.
We launched our curriculum for 7-11 year olds, Paws b, in 2013 and in 2015 a study of the experience of 71 children receiving the Paws b curriculum was undertaken with results published at the start of the following year:
Mindfulness Training in Primary Schools Decreases Negative Affect and Increases Meta-Cognition in Children – Charlotte E. Vickery and Dusana Dorjee
In this research, Charlotte Vickery and Dusana Dorjee found that Paws b (a) can be feasibly delivered by primary school teachers as part of the regular curriculum, (b) is acceptable to the majority of children, and (c) may significantly decrease negative affect and improve meta-cognition.