20 October 2020

St Anthony’s School, Noble Park, allocates time for mindful breaks after each recess and lunch break, when school children re-enter the classroom.

‘This is when they have an opportunity to choose a mindful activity that refocuses their attention after they have come in from the energy of the playground’, St Anthony’s principal Patrika Rowley explains.

‘It works. We have noticed a significant improvement in behaviour and what’s amazing is that students are better equipped to self-regulate, which means fewer visits to my office.

‘We have even been able to include mindful moments in the online learning environment during the pandemic and have been able to share Smiling Mind’s mindful meditations with the whole school community to give them tools to support their mental wellbeing throughout Victoria’s lockdown.’

St Anthony’s adopted the Smiling Mind Schools Program three years ago. It is one of 72 schools across Australia that have accessed the program for free through a charitable partnership between Smiling Mind and Frasers Property Australia. Ms Rowley says the program has been extremely successful at improving classroom behaviour, readiness to learn and student engagement.

‘Mindfulness has become part of the culture of the school now’, Ms Rowley says. ‘It’s as much an accepted part of the curriculum as maths or English and when we talk about taking mindful moments, all teachers and students know exactly what it means and what’s required.’

Victoria Gelberg is a performing arts teacher at St Anthony’s School and has been instrumental in rolling out the program. She says ensuring that teachers are supportive of the program is crucial to its success.

‘Once teachers understand what’s involved, how improved classroom behaviour helps them do their job and what benefits they might receive themselves from a daily meditation practice, then the whole school really sees the impact mindfulness can have’, Ms Gelberg says.

This is an extract of an article that was originally published on the Frasers Property website on 8 October 2020.