Meditation Pod Installed At Harlow School

5 February 2019, 16:05 | Updated: 5 February 2019, 16:14

A primary school in Harlow's had a meditation pod installed - to help children and staff there relax more.

The head of Longwood Primary, James Hollinsley, decided to get the pod after looking into the benefits of meditation for staff and realising soon after that it could benefit children too.

Ten key stage two children use the pods on a weekly basis and can listen to relaxing sounds such as rainfall or music.

Some of the children who use it told Heart the pod's made them feel "calmer in class" and "is really relaxing".

James Hollinsley told us it's had a really positive reaction.

He said: "The reason we did (it) was for staff wellbeing, first of all, and to make sure that the staff were really looked after and to see how that affects their wellbeing over time. We also thought about how that would benefit the children in the school and we found out that in years 5 and 6, there was a lot of space, in terms of proactive meditation, on a weekly basis.

"When we look at our own experiences from when we were young, we would go out on our bikes, we would go out and play... these days, children, not so much. They're very into their computers, they don't have as much time just to themselves because they have social media which can be a good thing but they're always communicating with people. Time out just by themselves, is sometimes, for many of them a rarity these days. So to have this time is something that I think is beneficial.

"All of our teachers and our support staff and even the site manager (now) has time to meditate for half an hour per week, along with a handful of children who come in to have that experience as well to decrease anxiety and raise their wellbeing and self esteem.

"This meditation pod is for everyone in our community... we want this to be something for lifelong wellbeing."