Resilience Project

This term, our wellbeing focus at John Paul II is all about Mindfulness, Understanding Mood Changes, and exploring how we can respond thoughtfully to different scenarios. As part of The Resilience Project, students across all year levels are learning practical strategies to build emotional resilience and awareness.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to the present moment,  noticing our thoughts, feelings, body, and surroundings without judgement. Through guided breathing, visualisations, and simple reflection activities, students are learning how mindfulness helps them calm their minds, focus better in class, and respond more thoughtfully when emotions run high.

In class, students have been:

• Practising quiet breathing and grounding exercises.
• Using sensory mindfulness to notice what they hear, feel, and see.
• Taking mindful moments before transitions to reset and focus.

Understanding Mood Changes

Children experience many emotions in a single day and that’s normal! Through class discussions, journals, and storytelling, we’ve been exploring:

• How to recognise different moods (happy, angry, worried, excited).
• How our bodies might feel in different emotional states.

Ways to manage those feelings, like movement, talking to someone, or taking a mindful break.

We've used real-life and fictional scenarios to help children practise identifying emotions and choosing healthy responses.

Responding to Everyday Scenarios

In our classroom lessons, students are given everyday challenges and asked:

"What could I think, say, or do here?"

From friendship problems to feeling left out, we encourage students to:

• Name their feelings.
• Think of kind, safe, and helpful responses.
• Reflect on how others might be feeling too.

These practical tools help them pause before reacting, and build stronger relationships with their peers.

Thank you for continuing this journey with us, one step at a time.