In the middle of each week MYP students have been taking time for mindfulness training. Recent research has concluded that giving learners time to be mindful, can help to increase their ability to pay attention in lessons, improve their working memory and sense of self-esteem. It has also been shown to decrease negative emotions and anxiety. Midweek Mindfulness is here to stay!

The children have all started their new clubs and activities for the term. They are enjoying the multitude of activities on offer and especially the popular clubs such as skiing, mountain biking, football and not to forget cooking! This term we have started a few new clubs and in particular our charity club. The students will be raising money this term in order to offer Christmas presents locally to children who may be spending Christmas alone.

On Friday, Samantha and her Year 3/4 class talked to us about ´International Day of Peace’, which was celebrated on the 21st September all around the world. The United Nations' (UN) International Day of Peace is celebrated on September 21st each year to recognise the efforts of those who have worked hard to end conflict and promote peace. Samantha told us the story of Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani activist who continues to fight for the rights for female education and she is also the youngest Nobel Prize laureate.

This was followed by the continuation of our weekly IPC gratitudes, with students thanking others for acts of kindness towards them, and then ended with our stars of the week. This week they were awarded for ‘resilience’.

This week Year 5 and 6 children enjoyed a fascinating presentation on Bees. We were shown a video explaining how the bees work together as a community and learned about the life cycle of the bee as well as the importance of the role of the Queen Bee in the hive. To finish, we were able to sample a wide variety of delicious honey. Thank you to Angela for coming to talk to us. 

With the start to the new school year well under way, we are happy to see that the students are enjoying their first few weeks at school. This year we welcome the first MYP4 class to La Garenne and we are happy to see that they are enjoying their time here. There are many activities, visits, classes and extracurricular choices keeping everyone very busy!