©
Calm Classrooms
Wellness Resource and Training
Jeanne 072 631 0441 | Nia 082 623 1287
[email protected]
www.calmclassrooms.co.za
Calm Classrooms is a simple and empowering tool to bring calm to the
lives of children! Many children experience stress and anxiety caused by
developmental, family, social, sensory and academic pressures. This stress
has a negative impact on their physical, mental and emotional development. In South Africa, we identified a growing problem with children’s wellbeing and the support their parents and teachers are able to offer. We passionately wanted to address this and, drawing on our combined skills in
therapy and teaching we have worked together to develop an accessible,
proven resource to address this: Calm Classrooms card deck and supporting training.
This is the first time I’ve been able to work with such a holistic, cost effective and
easily accessible resource. Usually this type of support would require hiring outside
professionals, battles over time tables and teachers feeling resentful at having to add
another expectation to their curriculum. Calm Classrooms avoids those challenges in
terms of being simple, but effective. It’s a resource I’d highly recommend to schools
for classroom, small group and 1/1 work.
Pam Hoffman, Primary School Student Support and Counsellor, International
School of Cape Town
We are seeking to partner with grassroots programmes who share our commitment to early child development and education and who can enable us
to widen the reach of the wellness resource. Our aim is to achieve sustainability to ensure as many children, teachers and families can benefit from
Calm Classrooms, greater wellbeing and higher academic achievement tools that will propel them into adulthood and working life, strong, and
well-equipped to contribute positively to the world.
Wellness Resource | Card Deck | Training | #calmclassrooms
©
Calm Classrooms
Wellness Resource and Training
Jeanne 072 631 0441 | Nia 082 623 1287
[email protected]
www.calmclassrooms.co.za
Features and facts
1. A sustainable and innovative resource for educators, parents and therapists, which addresses the needs of the whole child in a non-invasive way.
2. The resource is a designed as a card deck, which is imaginative, accessible and safe.
3. Sequenced together or used individually, the techniques were specially
designed to be suitable for the typical classroom space and busy schedules, although these can be adapted to other contexts.
4. For ease and enjoyment we divided the techniques into five topics:
Breathe, Move, Focus, Relax and Connect. Each topic has a group of cards
that include illustrated instructions and discussion points.
5. The card deck has already been designed and printed. It is a compact
pack with a guide and although currently only in English the text could be
translated into other languages.
6. By integrating physical movement with breathing exercises and mindful
awareness, it is a physical and cognitive resource to enhance learning and
relieve stress related outcomes.
7. Children will benefit from tuning into and exploring how the body
feels, moves, strengthens and grows in a non-competitive and fun way.
8. The techniques stimulate the relaxation response in the brain in turn
enhancing mood, social skills, self-esteem, resilience, self-regulation,
behaviour and concentration.
Wellness Resource | Card Deck | Training | #calmclassrooms
©
Calm Classrooms
Wellness Resource and Training
Jeanne 072 631 0441 | Nia 082 623 1287
[email protected]
www.calmclassrooms.co.za
Development
Wellness
Resource | Card
1. Qualitive evaluation action research with schools, early
child development centres, parent support groups, NGOs and teacher training providers. As a result we have gathered helpful data, which enabled us to make
relevant improvements.
2. Ongoing ambassador programme with communities and partners
(including parents, health workers, academic advisors, schools and educational psychologists) to ensure flexible outcomes and best support strategy
(online and face-to-face).
3. Quantity of sustainable partnerships with NGO grassroots programmes,
educational sectors, government organisations, parents and therapists. We
also are securing education and health endorsements and accreditation,
from the UK and the South Africa.
4. New partnership growth (inc international growth). Due it to not being
aligned with one particular curriculum or standard we have gained interest
in Bali, UK, South Africa, Australia, Romania and Colombia.
5. Donor/ funding growth according to needs. At present we have two
agendas: one is to gain sponsorship of the card deck for teachers in low
income areas and the other is the funding of training to be filmed and
shared via an online portal.
6. Social media engagement by encouraging meaningful skills and story
sharing.
Wellness Resource | Card Deck | Training | #calmclassrooms