To complain to the school.

[runforthesun]

Dd has had a letter from school to say that they will be having an hour long session in mindfulness every week when they return to school. Dd is fairly bright but does struggle a bit with maths. AIBU to complain to school that at this point in her education I would rather she was getting up to speed on academic subjects ? I don't think IABU but am prepared to be told I am. If it makes a difference they are 8 and 9 year olds.

An hour long seems way too much - surely it's split over days rather than in one chunk? Our primary has mindfulness sessions for all classes apart from the nursery but as far as I can tell they're pretty short, 5 minutes a day at the most for the ones up to Y2. I don't know how much the ones in KS2 do but probably not that much more.

To be honest it's little more than a few minutes to calm down and focus, done in a way that is easy for little ones. I know some of the parents think it's a waste of time and would rather get rid of it, but this is the third school DD1 has attended before Y2 and quite frankly I think it does help her focus on her work (in conjunction with some rather wonderful teaching, of course).

deliverdaniel Thanks for that link. My google searches had suggested that the evidence wasn't there, and that link just highlights that once again stuff is being foisted on schools where the evidence is poor. Small trials, no controls, twisted interpretations of the data, cherry-picked results.

It may well be that 'mindfulness' turns out to be a useful technique for schools, but at what age, and what 'mindfulness' actually involves is currently unclear. What is clear is that there's plenty of marketing going on despite the lack of evidence, and one is always tempted to follow the money.

In the meantime, what we know works for improving the mental health of children is fresh air, exercise, time with friends, and probably restricted access to social media.

Good idea but far too long.

Really interesting discussion- I'm a big fan of mindfulness and it has helped me manage my own stress and I also use some aspects with DS to help him relax in the evening. But, if he was going to do it at school I'd want to know it was being done well, by suitable qualified members of staff etc.

I think lots of this thread highlights how schools have huge part to play in promoting and improving public health, both physical and mental health, but typically education and the NHS are terrible at working together to make sure what schools do is based on good evidence (both safe & effective and good use of public money)?

A good idea but an hour is too long - 20 mins st that age. I'm sure the school will be meeting the curriculum requirements for maths - they do need a variety.

if life wasnt so shit we wouldnt need MH services. Kids could cope if Mr x or MrsY was there every day loving them.

Did they explain the purpose because resilience is a pretty useful life skill to have. If it's done properly with someone well trained and good at delivering it/connecting with the pupils then it could help them with any subject. There's a good evidence base behind mindfulness. Think its especially important for the screen based lifestyle we live now.

if life wasnt so shit we wouldnt need MH services

What a daft over simplification.

My son is in yr4. No way could he sit through an hour of this
His sitting still record is not great
I wouldn't be happy with this either

I'm a psychologist working with children and would not advocate the blanket use of mindfulness in schools. Contrary to popular opinion, the research evidence for benefit is not currently that conclusive or consistent. It affects people differently. It can work very well for some children, but others find the experience unhelpful, and others still, unpleasant. It is often missold as a relaxation technique to reduce anxiety, which it is not. In fact it can make people more aware of difficult emotions/experiences etc. While enhanced awareness of such things can be good, it isn't always the most helpful thing to be happening during the school day - some children may find themselves more anxious or upset. I think it's good to make mindfulness available as an option for those who want to try it (and are made aware that it can affect people differently) but it shouldn't be seen as the only, or go-to option for improving children's mental health in school, or assumed that it will necessarily help.

Showmeislands, that is really informative and interesting. Would you have expected a school to inform parents they were doing this, as my dds school didn't. She does about 20 minutes once a week and hates it. I've tried doing night time relaxing with her to help her sleep and she doesn't like this either, so one size doesn't fit all.