Schools & Nurseries
Yoga and mindfulness has a very important role to play in children's education. There are many studies that link yoga and mindfulness to improved academic outcomes. Through improved self awareness children are able to access the curriculum fully. Children practise skills to manage the stresses of daily life and to support their own mental and emotional health. Yoga plays an important part in embedding learning through physical movement too.
"Movement isn't a break from learning. It IS learning."
Kira Willey
Yoga classes also help meet three of the DfE key indicators for whole school improvement in PE:
1. increase the engagement of all pupils in regular physical activity.
2. to increase the confidence, knowledge and skills of all staff in teaching PE and games
3.to give a broader experience of a range of sports and activities to all pupils.
My aim is to make yoga and mindfulness accessible and playful for ALL children as well as show teaching staff new skills that they can take back to the classroom to support their students. I often have teachers who have attended my classes with their students, say that they have enjoyed the relaxation time they have gained during the sessions too and are able to return to class refreshed. They have found that the skills we practice have been useful in their class rooms too.
I bring my extensive experience as a Early Years Primary Teacher and yoga teacher together to offer bespoke sessions for the children in your setting to help give them the best start to life. If you would like me to show you the power that yoga and mindfulness has on helping your children to be the best they can be then please get in touch.
Nurseries and Foundation Stage (EYFS)
Yoga in Nurseries & Foundation Stage are usually story or adventure based making the most of the wonderful imaginations that children have at this stage. These classes include lots of music, songs, games and sensory resources.
As routine at this developmental stage is essential the structure of the class stays the same at the beginning and the end of each session to build confidence and familiarity.
Age appropriate breath techniques (e.g. lion breath), mindfulness, yoga poses and relaxation are elements of each lesson delivered in a playful and engaging way.
Each sessions is tailored to your topic and links to the EYFS Curriculum. Themes could include dinosaurs, under the sea, superheroes, seasons or link to phonics just to name a few. Story books are always very popular too. I will work with you to build a bespoke package to suit your settings needs.
KS1
For KS1 children, we continue to use story or adventure based lessons but include some partner poses, group poses and games to bring yoga to life. Music is also a big part of our lessons too.
Sessions can be either linked to a topic area or sit as a separate topic altogether or could even address social /emotional needs of the group. I will work with you to make each session suit your needs.
The wonderful thing about yoga is that it can bring many topics to life and embed learning through movement. We continue to focus on playful breathing skills encouraging breathing more deeply and more often.
KS2
As children grow their ability to concentrate increases and so does their physical ability. Classes for this age group offer children the opportunity to build social and emotional skills, develop self-awareness and learn to self-regulate their emotions. Children learn life-long skills to support their own mental health and well-being and this has a direct impact on improved academic outcomes.
The classes involve more focus on yoga poses and how to do them correctly, lots of group and partner poses to build trust, communication skills, and to make yoga fun.
As per the above, classes are bespoke to suit the needs of your children, whether it be preparing to transition to secondary school, SATS prep, topic based or to address the social and emotional needs of particular groups of children.
