Esperance Primary School is on an exciting journey through the support of the Mental Health in Schools project. We have spent time developing action teams, collecting and reviewing our schools data around our understanding of mental health and being mentally healthy, using BeYou. Once we had completed this phase, we set about finding a whole school approach that reflected us. This is how we came to choose MindUP. The integrated approach of MindUP, enables students to understand what is happening to them, specifically their brains, in regards to emotions and emotional reactions.

Our students are really engaged in the neuroscience understanding and with the addition of lots of mindfulness practice being embedded, has allowed students to gain an understanding of how to self-regulate more effectively and why it is happening. This program will continue to develop through positive psychology and social and emotional learning, whilst linking to why it is important to practice these things from a cognitive perspective, so they understand the effects on their body and mind.

MindUP resources are being used across the school and with support from our P&C, each classroom has their own curriculum to guide them.

Fun fact!
Did you know the hippocampus looks like a seahorse? Our school emblem... a Seahorse!

Resources are flexible for our whole school approach, however, the Smiling Minds resource is an essential part of many classrooms core practice. We use this most days and the varieties of meditation, relaxation and visualisation programs are amazing and all age appropriate. At Esperance Primary we are also an Act-Belong-Commit partner and are busy looking at ways to connect the message of A-B-C to our staff, students and parent community. This partnership allows us to show the links between what we already do here and the importance of being part of an active and connected school.