February 2023

Morena,

Well here we are halfway through February and if you're anything like me deep in the term one busy-ness!

I just want to send a shout out to our colleagues in the North Island. I am thinking of you as you navigate yet another ‘unusual’ start to the year. I hope you are all safe and well.

I have personally really appreciated my start to the year, taking the time to get to know each of the children in my class, having one on one conversations, and finding out about their families and what they enjoy doing. This week we have Meet the Teacher interviews which I always enjoy as a chance to meet whanau and find out what their aspirations are for their tamariki.

The weeks have very quickly filled themselves up with Swimming, Athletics practice, EOTC planning, parent interviews and trying to get into routines. This has made me reflect on last month's newsletter of sticking with your priorities and maintaining boundaries.

It can be really hard to do, however, it is so important for our own wellbeing and I have been regularly going back to the list I made at the start of the year.

I was listening to a podcast last weekend and they talked about brain dumping everything on your mind each weekend and then allocating those things into four categories to help manage time for the week or day ahead.

Important and Urgent (must be done), Urgent (things that help you to achieve your goals but aren’t urgent), Important (things like ringing family members and buying the kids new shoes) and neither. The idea is to completely focus on the first two categories each day and make sure that you prioritise them so that you are always working towards your dreams and allowing yourself the time you need. I tried this last Sunday night and found it to be a really good way to ensure I was getting the things done that needed to be, however also taking the time for the things that I care about or that lead me forward in my career etc.

Over the last few weeks I have been perusing through the new Mental Health in Education resource. I have to admit I have been carrying it around in my bag for a while and although it is something I am passionate about I just hadn’t made the time to sit down and read it.

While I was a little disappointed that there are no actual activities or resources, I think that the sentiment behind the document and the vision for the future is great. Reading this resource has really cemented to me the need for The Classroom Connections Project in our schools and has inspired me even more to provide teachers with this simple, effective way to teach children about mental health.

The main reason I created The Classroom Connections Project is because I couldn’t find a resource that dealt with more than one aspect of wellbeing e.g. mindfulness or journaling. When we teach children sports we expose them to a wide array of activities in the hope that they will find one that they will enjoy and will allow them the opportunity to stay fit and healthy into the future.

This is how I feel about The Classroom Connections Project. There is no one size fits all but there are plenty of opportunities for tamariki to find one or two techniques that will work for them now or in the future.

If you would like to know anything about The Classroom Connections Project please feel free to email me or book a call on our website www.beingeducation.co.nz, I’d love to share this amazing resource with you.

Thanks and have a lovely weekend,

Nga mihi

Natalie