Pause Breathe Smile
@
Albany Primary School
Pause Breathe Smile supports your children's wellbeing across their learning and social interactions. It is a skills and reflection orientated programme that is taught through wider learning AND in stand alone sessions.
A huge personal thank you to Hayley Greer (Beau and Arrow Films) for creating this for APS.
As part of APS’ commitment to both teacher and learner wellbeing, we regularly undertake learning and implement programmes that focus specifically on supporting wellness and mindfulness. The Southern Cross supported programme Pause Breathe Smile officially rolled out into classrooms in January 2021. See what our students think about PBS and Mindfulness/Wellbeing based education:
PBS and the key competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum
Independent thinking: Mindfulness has been shown to increase creativity and independent thinking, and leads to improved knowledge-retention.
Using language, symbols & texts: Mindfulness helps students learn how to use language to improve their wellbeing and their relationships with others. It promotes self-reflection, helps students to learn new ways of describing experiences and improves emotional literacy.
Relating to others: Mindfulness helps students learn to be less judgmental toward themselves and others, and fosters positive relationships.
Te Whare Tapa Whā
As part of our ongoing connection to Te Ao Māori and the biculturalism of Aotearoa, we use the Maori Health Model, Te Whare Tapa Whā. This allows us to develop strategies in multiple areas to support learner wellbeing and their own recognition of needs. Te Whare Tapa Whā is designed to help us identify where we may need extra help. It describes our overall health as a wharenui, or meeting house, with four walls. Each wall represents a taha (piece) that makes up our human needs for wellbeing.
Te whare Tapa Whā from a Y3/4 class (2022)
Taha Wairua (spiritual health)
The spiritual essence of a person is their life force. This determines us as individuals and as a collective, who and what we are, where we have come from and where we are going. Taha Wairua or spiritual health is about understanding the different elements of our identity, exploring how we develop these and understanding having a kete of skills to support them.
Taha Whānau (Family and Social health)
Whānau centres around a sense of belonging. Taha Whānau is understanding the people and groups we belong to, how they provide us with identity and how we show aroah and manaaki within them. Whānau provides us with the strength to be who we are. This is the link to our ancestors, our ties with the past, the present and the future.
Taha Hinengaro (Mental and Emotional health)
Taha Hinengaro is about how we see ourselves in this universe, our interaction with that which is uniquely Māori and the perception that others have of us. Thoughts, feelings and emotions are integral components of the body and soul. Supporting these through wellbeing allows us to nurture our own emotions and seek both clarity and calmness.
Taha Tinana (Physical health)
Good physical health is required for optimal development. Our physical ‘being’ supports our essence and shelters us from the external environment. For Māori the physical dimension is just one aspect of health and well-being and cannot be separated from the aspect of mind, spirit and family.
Source: https://www.health.govt.nz
