Dear Parents, Families and Friends,

Welcome back to our House Blog !

We are particularly pleased to share with you the topic of yesterday’s House Assembly. The whole Middle School Boarding students were involved and we challenged them to embark on a “21 days meditation journey“.

Meditation is part of our daily routine in Champs des Bois Boarding House since the last school year. We feel particularly proud and happy to make it become something more widely distributed across the whole Middle School group ! It is indeed an essential part of our Pastoral Programme and the beneficial effects of this practice are nowadays universally recognized. The practice of mindfulness and meditation has been around for thousands of years and we firmly believe that it can be used in our context as an essential tool to help our kids building and developing  their moral identity. We are also certain to fulfil in this way the obligations of a leading 21^st century educational institution, helping and supporting our students towards academic excellence but also making sure they are able to explore and fully live their inner world, overcoming fears, developing resilience, focusing on the positive, recognizing beauty and simply learning how to enjoy their beautiful lives.

Our students will be exposed to “short moments of awareness” two/three times a day, mainly after breakfast and right before lights off. This will continue for 21 days hoping that they will develop this healthy and wise habit!

Our Boarding Counselor Mrs Eleonora RAVIGLIONE joined our presentation and gave to our kids some practical instructions to start this journey:

• Sit up right in a comfortable and relaxed position
• Close your eyes or just allow your gaze to be relaxed
• Allow your mind to be just as it is
• Breathe naturally paying attention to each breath
• When your mind wanders away from your breaths just notice it and bring your attention back to your anchor: your breath!

Science backs up the effectiveness of meditation and has revealed an incredible array of benefits. Particularly important for our kids are the following beneficial effects :

• Improves focus! = better academic/sport results
• When you focus on your breath you pay attention to your INNER WORLD!
• Reduces stress/tests anxiety
• Helps you have a good night sleep
• Increases immunity and helps fight diseases
• Creative responses vs reactions: keeps you away from troubles
• Helps you feel more connected to your friends
• Helps you develop the confidence to say “NO” for WRONG “activities”

We also believe that meditation can give an opportunity to stop every day even for few seconds to appreciate and celebrate Life. We will constantly reiterate the need to integrate this last concept into our kids’ lives and hopefully this will help them developing a more sensitive outlook and kinder approach towards life.

Hey, why don’t you join this challenge too? Start today!

See you in three weeks then!

Dear Parents, Families and Friends,

Welcome back to our House Blog!

The topic of yesterday’s House Assembly was “Conflict Resolution”. We started our discussion by asking the boys to give their definition of “Conflict”. We understood that most of the times a conflict starts when we feel that our person, ideas or values have not been respected or valued. We all agreed that “conflicts” are absolutely normal to arise especially in this context where the boys meet new people with different habits, uses, cultures, values etc. They find themselves sharing bathrooms, showers, rooms with perfect strangers, very often for the first time in their lives. It is not easy!

Conflict is a normal, and even healthy, part of relationships which can help youth develop good character traits and life skills. In fact the main point was to teach the boys how to handle conflicts!

We shared 4 main “magical” tips to healthy responses to conflicts:

1. CALM DOWN!
   YOU SIMPLY CAN’T THINK PROPERLY WHEN YOU ARE UPSET! Remember: CALM is a SUPER POWER
2. LISTEN! Listen to the reasons the other person gives for being upset and make sure you understand what the other person is telling you—from his or her point of view
3. COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY! Remember: recognising and understanding your feelings and emotions is a SUPER POWER. Use “I” messages and always avoid provocative language.
4. FORGIVE! It is not an easy task as FORGIVENESS is only for the bravest as it requires a lot of courage but… at least try! and BE WILLING TO FIND A COMPROMISE /SUGGEST POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS and REMEMBER WE ARE ALL A BIT NUTS!

We will consistently ensure that these steps are followed in the event of a conflict and we trust you will support us by reminding the boys about the importance of handling conflicts in a positive way!

First football tournament of the year. First place. First medal.

Well done Champions!