Please find further resources on Schools within this section of the site.
Resources and Organisations which can help with peaceful schools
This resource list has been put together by Spiritual England researchers to start you off on your journey of making your school a more spiritual and peaceful place!
Peace Mala
'Peace Mala' is a creative and vibrant inter-faith initiative designed around a rainbow bracelet aimed very much at schools, but spreading also to community and youth groups. It was started by a teacher in Wales in response to the bullying of some of her pupils after the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York by terrorists on 11 September 2001. One of the key messages of the Peace Mala is that religions have the same basic message - called the Golden Rule which is: 'Treat others as you would wish to be treated!' www.peacemala.org.uk
West Midlands Quaker Peace Education Project, St James Road, Edgbaston,
Birmingham B15 1JP. 0121 454 9069 info@peacemakers.org.uk
www.peacemakers.org.uk Young people are particularly vulnerable to media images of violence both fictional and actual. This project tries to ensure that bullying and other types of conflict do not escalate. They offer experiential workshops to develop the skills of anger management, affirmation, communication, co-operation, conflict resolution and problem solving as well as raising self-esteem. The project has found that support for conflict resolution and peer mediation inside the classroom has made schools a more secure environment where children can concentrate on learning.
Learning Through Landscapes - http://www.ltl.org.uk/about/index.php This site is for anyone who shares our passion for creating stimulating outdoor learning and play experiences for children and young people. We hope you’ll find within it the practical inspiration to embark upon a new adventure in learning. Learning through Landscapes helps children to connect with nature, become more active, learn outdoors, develop social skills and have fun.
Creative Spaces Education is a resource for creative thinking and reflection in education. Through this resource, Chris Easom is able to offer workshops for students at KS 2/3/4 and training for teachers, using philosophical enquiry and other strategies to develop mindful learning and creative reflection. www.creativespaceseducation.co.uk
Quiet Room Designs - set up by Helen Sanderson as a direct response to a recognised need for design and harmony to be included in corporate prayer rooms. As an artist, designer, interfaith minister and therapist she recognised the value of providing a special place to retreat that would facilitate the journey into prayer, contemplation or mediation. In our highly commercialised, stimulating and demanding culture, the senses are bombarded with data to process. Internally our systems are craving peace and calm. A specially designed environment can sooth and re-centre our sense of wellbeing. Quiet Room Designs, London 07989 230244. info@quietrooms.co.uk www.quietrooms.co.uk
Quakers, children and young people’s programme – Look on their website to find out what they do. The have materials about young people and spirituality and ‘Spiritual Development’ a booklet for training youth workers. www.quaker.org.uk/cyp
Jenny Mosley, Quiet Circle Time (QCT), has created successful classroom management modules over the past eighteen years and is the author and co-author of many uplifting texts, including the best-selling ‘Turn Your School Round’, ‘Quality Circle Time (QCT) in the Primary Classroom’ and ‘More Quality Circle Time’. Jenny’s aim is to enhance self-esteem by building positive relationships in school communities. QCT takes a democratic and creative approach to support teachers and other professionals in managing a range of issues that affect the whole learning community: teaching staff, children, support staff, parents and governors. Jenny's five-step Quality Circle Time model is designed to help pupils meet up, enjoy each other's company, practice social skills, speaking, listening and problem-solving. Step 4 of the model is always a 'cheering up' activity, like celebrating each other's achievements and Step 5 of the model is always a calming activity. Here Jenny uses calm breathing techniques, visualisations or any other 'stilling' activities that help to calm children down after their circle time session and to help prepare them for whatever their next activity is. Jenny writes her own guided visualisations and also has a catalogue of resources and this includes nature CDs and rainsticks for calming times. Jenny Mosley Consultancies, 28A Gloucester Road, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, BA14 0AA. Tel: 01225 767 157 e-mail: circletime@jennymosley.co.uk Website: www.circle-time.co.uk/site/home
Byoma Kusuma Buddhadharma Sangha - is an organisation that uses Vippassana as a meditation. Its insight and calm abiding techniques are used to help children become mindful, aware and relaxed in the mind. Since children are more susceptible to learning things, Vipassana by itself can be used to help children become aware of their feelings; both emotional and physical. Byoma Kusuma Buddhadharma Sangha, UK, 24 Canfield Drive, South Ruislip, Middlesex, HA4 6QW. Tel: 0208 845 1251 e-mail: byomakusuma.uk@gmail.com Website: www.byomakusuma.org
A Quiet Place, Penelope Moon trained as a yoga teacher and then became involved in complementary medicine, studying with various teachers across a range of therapies. She is a qualified Psycho/Hypno-therapist and is involved in training others. She developed 'A Quiet Place’ within mainstream education in schools across the U.K. including the Channel Islands and it is now recognised nationally as a Holistic Action Learning programme running in partnership with schools, children's homes and other organisations. A Quiet Place Ltd, 26 Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BX.Tel: 0151 708 6910 e-mail: penny@aquietplace.co.uk Website: www.aquietplace.co.uk/index.html
Christian Youth Outreach is a youth and schools ministry serving schools and churches in the Colchester area. They have developed the Sanctum project which they take into schools to help children experience being spiritual. This organisation believes that every young person is created in the image of God and that we are all special and unique. The organisations works with schools, churches and local communities which aims to help young people make the most out of their lives, giving them opportunities to explore the Christian faith themselves. CYO, PO Box 9272, Colchester, CO1 9AX .Tel: 01206 863835 e-mail: mail@cyocolchester.org.uk Website: www.cyocolchester.org.uk/work.htm
The Ringsfield Hall Trust, Ecostudy centre opened in 1972 as a centre for school children from city areas to spend time and experience and study the countryside along with youth groups, churches and families to use the facilities for group retreats, conferences and holidays during weekends and school holidays for day events. Ringsfield Hall, Ringsfield, Beccles, Suffolk, NR34 8JR. Tel: 01502 713020 e-mail: info@ringsfield-hall.co.uk Website: www.ringsfield-hall.co.uk/about_us.htm
Working With Others –is a programme that realises that learning takes place in a social context where positive pupil relationships are essential. The programme is aimed to motivate pupils to learn effectively together, and this improves behavior in class, playground and socially. It also aims to transform whole staff teams including senior management, office staff and teachers, re-energising as well as offering support and practical ideas. Working With Others, 31 Vale Road, Portslade, Brighton BN41 1GD. Tel: 07817 363193email: admin@workingwithothers.org Website: www.workingwithothers.org
Godly Play is a creative and imaginative approach to Christian nurture. It can be used in a variety of settings, such as churches, schools, hospitals, and care homes for the elderly. It also invites listeners into stories and encourages them to connect the stories with personal experience.Website: www.godlyplay.org.uk
Seeds of Hope Children’s Garden at Guildford Cathedral provides a vibrant living space for children to go to and reflect on their thoughts for those that have experienced loss. They can go there with their families, teachers and carers. The loss could be death, divorce, separate schooling or adoption. Here children can find different gardens for each season where they are able to explore their feelings and shape their thoughts creatively. Guildford Cathedral, Stag Hill, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7UP. Tel: 01483 547872
AND The Seeds of Hope Activity & Information Pack - for use with any garden or open space, activities and games suggesting ways in which to use Nature to help children and young people explore feelings of loss of all kinds. For a free copy, pleasee-mail: seedsofhopechildrensgarden@yahoo.co.uk Website: www.seedsofhopechildrensgarden.co.uk
The Association for Children’s Spirituality seeks to support and promote research and practice in relation to children’s spirituality within education and wider contexts. The association understands spirituality and encourages holistic approaches, paying particular attention to children’s voices allowing them to develop their own awareness’s and spirituality.Website: www.childrenspirituality.org
The Quiet Garden Movement is an organisation seeking to initiate and resource local opportunities for stillness, silence, reflection and the appreciation of beauty. It draws upon the Christian contemplative tradition. Venues include gardens in private homes, churches, schools, prisons and hospital. The Quiet Garden Trust, Kerridge House, 42 Woodside Close, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, HP6 5EF.e-mail: quiet.garden@ukonline.co.uk Website: www.quietgarden.co.uk
Spirituality For Kids (SPK) is an educational curriculum which is based on the idea of sharing cause and effect and the universal human truths, as well as helping children to find their own individual voice and human spirit, regardless of personal faith. An educational non-profit organisation that comes together with partners, educators, schools and organisations to teach tools to assist children in making choices to benefit their future. They work in schools mainly in the London area.Website: sfk.org
Heal Your Space - Stella Von Thun - works with children and schools to create a peaceful environment. A Certified Healing practitioner, Stella is impressed by the rapid and positive results healing can achieve. Healing works in all sorts of different forms and two aspects works with are colour healing and flower essences in order to help children feel reassured and gain perspective. Stella works with children in schools to bring reassurance and peace into their lives Website: www.heal-your-space.com
The Restorative Classroom – publication by Belinda Hopkins
Restorative approaches are about more than just repairing relationships when things go wrong, they are also about making and maintaining relationships and they inform a style of teaching just as much as they do an approach to problem solving and conflict resolution. By giving everyone a voice, considering everyone’s thoughts, feelings and needs and believing in people’s ability to find solutions to their own problems by working together, young people will develop the language and skills they need to properly engage with their peers.
The Restorative Classroom invites classroom teachers and teaching assistants to reflect on themselves, on their role, their purpose and their intention in the classroom and on their current style of engagement with their students. It combines a focus on the making, maintaining and repairing of relationships in the classroom with the development of social responsibility and a mutually supportive learning community in that classroom.
To order call 0118 933 1520 or email info@transformingconflict.org or buy from Amazon
Art for the Sky
Do you have a problem with bullying, harassment or intimation at your school? If so, Art For the Sky works like nothing else!! "Art For the Sky was the most magnificent thing I've experienced in my entire career as a principal." -Jennifer Teague, Doak Elementary, Greeneville Tennessee