Pause Breathe Smile is a mind health programme designed to help tamariki learn essential skills to help them manage the ups and downs of life and set them up for a healthy future.

Our school is beginning to introduce our children to mindfulness-based techniques through New Zealand’s Pause Breathe Smile programme. We are doing this as part of our ongoing commitment to supporting our learner’s wellbeing through our school Wellbeing Framework and Curriculum. 

We have designed our wellbeing lessons this year with a focus on resilience. Resilience is the ability to bounce back (and forward) from adversity. It is a necessary skill for coping with life’s inevitable obstacles and one of the key ingredients to success. 

We as a school, are committed to ensuring our children are provided with evidence-based support to prepare them for the daily pressures of modern life. Through our lessons we aim to help build our children’s wellbeing, social skills development and improve their self-awareness and emotional regulation.

Pause Breathe Smile is implemented in schools nationwide and the published research studies show that it leads to significant increases in wellbeing and improved resilience. Children quickly understand the usefulness of the mindfulness techniques learnt and adapt the Pause Breathe Smile methods in their daily interactions.

Pause Breathe Smile is a programme developed by Pause Breathe Smile Director Grant Rix whilst at the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand. Access to Pause Breathe Smile is free for all Primary and Intermediate schools in New Zealand through funding by Southern Cross.

Pause Breathe Smile programme can support your child by:

• Increasing calmness
• Improving focus & attention
• Enhancing self-awareness
• Developing conflict resolution skills & positive relationships

Additionally, this programme is aligned with the NZ education curriculum. With the skills and techniques taught in Pause Breathe Smile, other areas of their study should also benefit.

Our teachers have completed the full educator training programme and are now ready to implement it in the classroom over the coming terms.

You can learn more about PBS at www.pausebreathesmile.nz and we will share tools and techniques you may wish to use at home with your children in future editions of the whānau news.