Alexandra Dendy

Mindfulness in Schools Project

Mindfulness in Schools Project's vision is that every child possesses the skills to help them manage difficulty and flourish, and an understanding of how and when to use those skills. In 2009 Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP) was established as a not-for-profit company by Richard Burnett and Chris Cullen, both school teachers and mindfulness practitioners, in the belief that the young people in their classrooms could benefit from learning mindfulness skills. There were no curricula teaching mindfulness skills available in the UK at that time so MiSP created .b (pronounced ‘dot-b', which stands for stop and be) for 11-18 year olds. MiSP later worked with Sarah Silverton and Pen Y Bryn School's Tabitha Sawyer and created Paws b for 7-11 year olds. MiSP's most recent course is .b Foundations which was written for teachers and school staff. MiSP remains the leading provider of mindfulness programs for young people in the UK. MiSP does not deliver these curricula directly in schools themselves but provides training to adults to teach its mindfulness courses to children and young people in schools. MiSP now has over 2000 teachers trained to Teach .b , 600 to Teach Paws b and 250 to Teach .b Foundations. MiSP has a trusted team of trainers who are experienced mindfulness teachers with extensive knowledge of MiSP's curricula who deliver the training courses. It is these curricula which are at the heart of MiSP and this is where MiSP invests most of its time and resources. We aim to promote the teaching of mindfulness to young people by offering free support, advice and information to schools, teachers, pupils and parents in the UK as well as the highest level of training in MiSP's curricula. MiSP has a small team who are working hard to ensure MiSP delivers mindfulness in a sustainable and scalable way. In September 2016 MiSP became a charity.