A Mindful Approach
Here at Harris Academy Chobham we adopt a mindful approach in all aspects of academy life. It teaches both our staff body and students the skills of self-awareness and self-regulation which have been shown to impact positively on personal development at any age. These skills are complementary to social and emotional learning, which is concerned with developing young people’s ability to build relationships, communicate effectively, make appropriate decisions, builds self-esteem and promoting positive behaviour.
A mindful approach to personal development aligns with our core aims and the key characteristics of a growth mind-set, which allows the students to go beyond what is expected, challenging themselves to make change and become successful.
Explicitly focussing on leading our students to adopt a growth mind-set means that they will:
- Embrace lifelong learning
- Believe intelligence can be improved
- Put in more effort to learn
- Believe effort leads to mastery
- Believe failures are just temporary setbacks
- View feedback as a source of information
- Willingly embraces challenges
- View others’ success as a source of inspiration
- View feedback as an opportunity to learn
By incorporating a mindful approach to learning our students learn how to be more ‘present’ and therefore find it easier to remain focussed, more effectively draw on their existing knowledge and thus improve their overall performance. It ensures that the six Academy values are embedded within the daily diet of the young people at Chobham: curiosity, empathy, excellence, honesty, inclusion and respect.
By adopting regular mindfulness practice into our daily routines at Chobham we are having a positive impact on how well our young people focus, pay attention and participate in their learning. The mindfulness approach to learning at Chobham enhances memory, a central Academy learning attribute.
A mindful approach the Chobham Way
- Dedicated calm, quiet space for deeper reflection and connection to the breath in the Wellness Hub.
- Daily reflections through the Assembly and tutor programme.
- Role modelling a ‘mindful moment’ across all areas of the Academy life from the curriculum delivery to the behaviour for learning strategies.
- Weekly wellness sessions as part of the tutor programme.
- Mindfulness enrichment session for year’s 7 to 10.
- The Key Stage 5 Youth Leadership Team are completing a mindful based practice training programme called ‘Selfology’ https://www.statesofmind.org/ .
- Personal development programmes – Strengthening Minds, XLP and peer mentoring.
- Positive affirmations displayed around the academy as constant reminders of their self-worth.
To read the full extent to which we adopt a ‘Mindful Approach’ at the Academy click here.
Mindfulness Practice
We use four simple techniques to practice mindfulness at the Academy. Click here to try them for yourselves.
