Last week was Mental Health Awareness week, which highlighted yet again that mental health problems amongst young people are on the rise – stress, anxiety, panic attacks, self-harm, depression and eating disorders are on the increase. As a result, educationalists are searching for new ways of helping young people under pressure.  A new route being explored more and more is the connection with  … DOGS.

There has always been a special bond between humans and animals, especially dogs.  The bond was somewhat dampened in the seventies, when extensive press coverage of health hazards associated with dogs, first in the United States and later in Britain, lead to a growing anti-dog movement in the media and had a damaging effect on public perception of dogs and their owners. One of the first to challenge that perception was the charity Pro Dog; founded in 1976, it set out to highlight the beneficial influence of dogs. The charity gathered a panel of veterinarian and medical experts to respond to health scares; it also organised campaigns against restrictive laws on dogs and worked towards the abolition of the dog licence, which was eventually scrapped in 1988.

Since then, dogs have been allowed in – first cautiously, then more and more open-heartedly. Today, one can see dogs in nursing homes, hospitals and in workplaces. What about schools? A few months ago, the University of Buckingham organised a conference to examine how to respond to the stresses and anxieties facing young people. Speaking at the conference, Sir Anthony Seldon, the former headmaster of Wellington College and a longstanding advocate of the need for schools and universities to pay more attention to mental health, said that every school should have a dog to reduce stress in the classroom. “The quickest and biggest hit that we can make to improve mental health in our schools,” Sir Anthony said,  “is to have at least one dog in every single school in the country.” His words were echoed by the Education Secretary Damian Hinds, who noted that more and more schools seem to have what he called “wellbeing dogs”.

It is well know that when children are hurt or anxious or sad, they can relate to animals in a way they can’t with human beings. Indeed, having dogs at schools is both powerful and cost-effective. When dogs are present, children feel more relaxed. In many schools dogs are integrated into the educational process, they help to enhance learning  and encourage creativity. In one UK school, a dog is brought in to read with the children. The dog’s ability to respond to commands on flash cards encourages the children develop their literary skills.

In another school, a dog called Gus is an object of class discussions and is often immortalised in art.

In yet another school, a pioneering approach was developed in teaching teenage boys who have been excluded from mainstream education: the school has no uniforms, no detentions, and no punishments – but does have a dog, which has a calming effect and helps to bring barriers down in the school.

Similarly, therapy dog sessions are becoming more popular on university campuses. In the study published in the journal ‘Stress and Health’, researchers surveyed 246 students before and after they spent time in a drop-in therapy dog session. The study has found that when students are allowed to cuddle therapy dogs, their stress levels plummet, and energy and happiness increase. Encouraged by the findings, Leeds City College acquired a cockapoo. Five Labradors have joined the staff of Middlesex University to help students with exam stress and those whose anxiety puts them at risk of dropping out. Other universities have followed suit.

Having therapy dogs on campus is cheap — much cheaper than hiring extra counsellors or treating stress-induced disorders at medical clinics; dogs have a measurable, positive effect on the wellbeing of students: the simple act of petting a dog is shown to reduce blood pressure, lower levels of stress hormones, like cortisol, and increase oxytocin, all of which contribute to respiratory and cardiovascular health.

To make sure there is no danger, therapy dogs are carefully selected. The most important characteristic of a therapy dog is its temperament. A therapy dog’s primary duty is to make affectionate contact with unfamiliar people in sometimes-stressful environments. A good therapy dog is friendly, confident, gentle in all situations and must be comfortable and contented with being petted and handled, sometimes clumsily. They must have a calm and stable temperament and able to tolerate children, crowded public places and other stressful situations, without becoming distressed or dangerous.

From helping young children read to relieving the intense stress faced by university students, dogs are an increasingly familiar part of educational programs across the country.

P.S. Two cocker spaniels, Poppie and Daisy featured in the blog, are Gabbitas’ own.

Luke Baerschmidt is in his final year at Sedbergh School and has been predicted great grades in his A’ Levels.  Luke is applying for a degree in Business Analytics and knows he will have to deliver on those predictions to secure his place.  Here are the tech tips he is using to help him study and revise.

For the average teenager, studying and revision isn’t the first thing on our minds and for lots of us it’s hard to get things done without a nudge in the right direction.  But with the pressure mounting it’s time to get serious and I have found these 4 tools vital in helping me achieve my mock results and buckle down for next year.

Tool 1: Cold Turkey

The first revision tool is the foundation of how I start my revising, as for myself I know that I can’t do any work if I have distractions all around me. This app, ‘Cold Turkey’ shuts down any incoming notifications during set periods of time that you choose to fit your timetable.  I find it incredibly helpful as it gives me my own bubble to concentrate and work and without it I would find it much harder to get things done. An alternative to this is ‘Forest’, it is a softer form of shutting yourself off from the world. With this one you keep your phone on that app only whilst you revise, you start with a seed which grows to a tree and the longer you revise the bigger your forest grows.  It’s satisfying for those who enjoy a subtle reward for hard work.

Tool 2: Grammarly

The second tool I use is ‘Grammarly.’ When writing essays or projects I find this tool very valuable for the final draft; it checks all your grammar and word choice based on set criteria that you choose, whether it is to inform or explain to experts or beginners and it sculpts your form of writing around that set criteria. In fact, I even checked this entire piece on it!   Another feature that I like about this tool is the analytical check, this tells you the rarity of the words you use and the average length of each word which then gives you a performance score and a summary and I find that helpful for seeing how my work would appear to a professional.

Tool 3: Simplemind

The third tool is ‘Simplemind’, I use this for mind maps to keep all the information clear. It is super easy to use and you can print off the finished map. I use it mainly for my Psychology work and I could claim that this was the main reason for my A* prediction for this subject!

Tool 4: School Planner

Lastly, ‘School Planner’ is essential for organising my work and keeping on top of it. It is a super simple tool that records your daily activities and work and also leaves gaps for sport and social time since you have to have that vice. The nice thing for me is that it builds in a weekly report of if you are keeping up with your schedule which I use as a form of guilt trip if I can’t complete my weekly tasks.

Gabbitas consultant Dominic Watts explores how you can incorporate various Mindfulness activities and attitudes into your daily life at home in order to enhance the mental and emotional wellbeing of yourself and your family.

Mindfulness is growing in popularity all over the world in a variety of different contexts. Within education, Mindfulness has become increasingly popular in recent years as a fantastic tool to improve wellbeing not only for children, but for teachers and parents too.

In order to truly understand Mindfulness and make it a significant part of your life or the life of your family, it is necessary to devote time to learning about and practising it. There are daytime and nighttime courses in the UAE and I would highly recommend giving one of these a go if this is a subject which interests you.

Having said this, I hope that reading this article will allow you to start to get a taste of what Mindfulness is all about and the benefits it can bring.

Mindfulness is a way of being; it is a different way of paying attention to the world around us and the way that we respond to it. Jon Kabat Zinn, who brought Mindfulness into the world of medicine, defines it as ‘paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.’

When we practise Mindfulness we learn that our minds are frequently moving our attention away from the present moment, into the past, future or our imagination. We also find that the many habits of the mind can add an extra layer of unnecessary stress to our lives, which are usually already difficult and stressful enough!

Through the practice of Mindfulness, we learn to see what our minds are doing and to gradually move away from actions and ways of thinking which go against our core values. This goes for adults and children alike.

In a world which far too often seems to emphasise excessive activity and pressure, Mindfulness gives us all a chance to stop, to look again and to be here now, with the world as it is, in this moment.

There are two elements of Mindfulness practice – meditation and mindful living:

Meditation

Meditation needs to be practised to be appreciated and understood. Here are a few basic and brief meditation exercises to try at home with your family. Try to do these at a regular time each day, as it helps to build the habit and make meditation an important part of your day. For more extended meditations, have a look on Youtube or buy one of the many great books out there on MIndfulness.

The Flower

This is a simple technique which is especially great for kids. You simply open and close your hand slowly and gently as though it is the opening and closing of a flower to the light of the sun.

The idea is to match your breathing to the movements of the hand: breathing in as the hand opens, breathing out as the hand closes. The more slowly this is done, the more the mind will relax and slow down.

Try setting a timer for 3 minutes and focussing on both the sensations of breathing and the movements of the hand. This grounds attention in the present moment and makes you feel calm and refreshed.

Finger Tracking

This is another exercise which is great for kids and adults alike, and again you should aim for three minutes. You may need to start at 1 minute and build up to this and that is fine.

Simply trace the lines of your fingers with one finger of the opposite hand, touching very gently. As with the Flower exercise, try to focus on both the sensations of breathing and the sensations in your fingers.

3-Minute Breathing Space

Simply set a timer for 3 minutes and try to focus on the sensations of breathing in your chest and abdomen. As you mind wanders, which it inevitably will, simply bring it back to the sensations of breathing.

The more that you practise, the easier and more effective it becomes!

Original Source: Absolutely Education Emirates

If you’re relocating your whole family the other side of the world, it’s natural to feel nervous about a whole host of things. And if you’ve got school age children, their education is likely to be high up on that list. Below we look at some of the key benefits your child can access from an international education.