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I love the idea of co-deciding on brain breaks/activities with the children. Setting these out clearly on the board as a motivator/goal for students to work towards throughout the day. Students develop a sense of autonomy and governance over their learning through decision-making - student voice.

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There's so much to learn from school's that consistently get it right in both academia and wellbeing. Finland is the happiest country for many reasons.
Understanding the cultural influences is an important part when considering shifts in our own practice.
Every aspect of this model has undeniable value for students and staff; it's simply taking each practice and asking how does this look within our own school context?

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I thought Friday went really great for a first time go! I am very much looking forward to this model in the future.
I am wondering a few things;
1. I wonder how other grades had their brain food or recess snack? - I think the 1/2s had ours maybe too early and kids were really hungry. They could have also been hungry from burning off more energy as we only had outside breaks.
2. I wonder how we get the breaks across to students without it feeling overwhelming on the whiteboard schedule?

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You can see the clear value of this model for both students and teachers. Teacher wellbeing being one huge benefit and student voice flowing through each aspect of the day. Making these changes fit us in our context is the next consideration. A lot of the aspects of the Finnish Education Model are systematic, which would require changes on a larger scale in order to implement in our context, however the benefits of the 'quick wins' are easy to be seen.

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In middles this model has been very successful. Students focus when coming in after the breaks has improved.
Wondering:
Currently we go out for our break once we finish the learning block (on our own terms). With set bell times in place, is the first learning block requirements going to be shortened (less activities) or do students come back in after their break and continue working? So, if for example the expectation is that spelling is suppose to be finished in the first block we will need to factor in transition time (putting books away, packing up the area, grabbing hats etc) which might make the learning block, depending on the activity, 30-35 min.

Just might be something to consider in the planners

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One of the positives the middles have found trialling this throughout the year has been the relationships built with students in their own classrooms, especially the students that maybe used to struggle making friends or were apprehensive to play say football or basketball with all students outside. One thing some students commented on with Fridays whole school trial was that they missed this time eg using the top basketball court and the 3/4’s playing a whole class game of octopus.
This doesn’t tend to happen during whole school recess type time so maybe soemthing to consider (eg maybe only middles outside for 1 break block).

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- Choice of activities = even while having a break there are learning opportunities here… games with structure resilience built in.
- Air flow in the classroom something I have not considered before but makes complete sense.
- Minimise homework. I personally am a strong advocate for no homework, other than reading until Year 5 or 6. Or if there is a demand for it (parent driven) provide but do not collect or grade.
- It would be good to unpack the responsive classrooms content… does it align with our expectations.
- Play with your students, I agree with this totally. My best teaching / student relationships comes from the times when I play with the group, class games, class fun time. They are kids after all I forget that sometimes.
- Eat with the kids, this is a great idea, we need to be super prepared for our lessons and make sure there is no need to work during the 15min breaks… easier said than done, but with functional changes we can get there.
- Banish the Bullying… we think we don’t have much at our school… but do we not know what we don’t know, the kids have reported more than we think we have. Maybe they are not aware of the definition?
- Our students in Year 5/6 have loved grids with Must Do and Can do tasks. They love this freedom.

Many things we are doing, but many to go that are significant changes.
I look forward to the challenge and the work to be done because the end result speaks for itself in what they are experiencing in Finland and other Scandinavian countries.
What an opportunity for a school with new staff to use this situation as a time to pivot together.

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I noted that on Friday many students in some classes were not transitioning back to class tasks after the breaks, instead staying in free play mode. I understand this was all very new to us all and will take time to adjust to. Sharing ideas of what staff did to help facilitate students to refocus will be important, as well as consistency across classrooms of student expectation.  It would be interesting to see across year levels what individual classes achieved and what teachers did to bring student back into into the classroom and settle back into their work successfully.

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I was thinking along the same lines as some of the staff comments and wanderings.

Food/ eating times (smaller snacks but more)
Outside/inside play
Bell times
Transitioning back to class routines
Class schedule for breaks

Question?
Structured play based activities and could we incorporate this with social/ emotional groups and with our NCCD children?

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There will always be opportunities to iron things out and Friday's dress rehearsal was overall very successful. Looking after staff wellbeing and student wellbeing has never been more important. Enabling students and staff more opportunity to build relationships and have short breaks between focused learning and teaching sessions makes sense as do many other aspects of this book.

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Noteworthy - the importance of getting to know your students. Over my four decades of teaching I have always put relationships as a priority. The beginning of the school year is when this must be fostered. The first few weeks are for relationship building activities and loose timetabling to allow for low stress learning where the teacher's focus is on establishing routines and expectations.

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Wondering - Independent Learning Week could be interest/research/project based activity incorporating all areas of the curriculum; students could work independently, with a partner or in small groups; showcased at a learning fair.

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Friday was great but I think that outside play was a little too much. Some children seemed to be heightened by it. I think that breaks could include quiet times, teacher directed fun activities or even quiet reading. I think for teachers it works best if everything is organised before the day begins so that you can reenergise between lessons.

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Question - The benefits of music is well known so how can it be integrated into our daily learning?

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My wondering ... we have a very calm school environment. We have gone from chaos to calm and the change is extremely noticeable. Our students are not wandering the school aimlessly, our PA announcements are considerably reduced and we are very "protective" of our learning blocks. I wonder with the increased movement by students around the school could we return to a much busier environment?

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I loved reading and reflecting on the Finnish model. Some elements remind me of practice seen in the early years and I am very excited to implement this in the classroom next year. I had the same wondering about music and how we can meaningfully integrate this into lessons.
There are so many aspects from this model that I can see would benefit everyone.

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I love how this philosophy values staff and student wellbeing at the forefront equally. Our wellbeing data has been the driving factor for the commitment and change we are making in this space.
Friday was great and exciting to see the first of many shifts towards the Finnish model. The feedback was interesting. I think both the students and staff need to get used to changes before we can really gauge too much. It be worth trailing a Happy Week, making tweaks across the week, taking on feedback to refine the structure.

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I felt that Friday went as well as can be expected.
The students seemed to enjoy the breaks, but I felt it took a bit longer then normal to get them refocused.
On the positive, I believe it is important for staff/ students wellbeing to have a break outside of the classroom.

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As a new staff member it was extremely interesting to read through the notes on the Finnish model and to hear the reflections from everyone about the trial of the timings of the school day. The focus on wellbeing (both for staff and students) and its impact on student learning really stands out.
A few of the elements that really resonate with me is the focus on building relationships with the students and coaching more. I've always felt that when you have strong relationships with the students where they feel that you really know them, they are more open to instruction and feedback about their learning.
I'm looking forward to learning more about the direction and initiative the school is planning to implement this year.

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Finnish model works great; reading the proper research helps understand why they do it and how we can supplement our own experiences. Some things to ask/ that I noticed however:

- Kids who have processing problems/those who take longer to settle and get started, is there a way to cater for this?
- It all seemed "Go, go, go!" and personally didn't feel like myself or the kids had a calm rest time (despite the longer breaks; kids may have been running around a lot)
- With less learning time, no chance for mindfulness/meditation/calming activity

BUT (positively)

- kids needed to use the toilet much less during class
- lot's of focus and little restlessness
- more time for teachers to do admin tasks
- more time for COFFEE woohoo

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As others have mentioned, I wonder how well all  students will refocus after these frequent breaks, it may just be something that irons out with time as they get used to the new model.
Noteworthy for the transition process, to closely monitor students that are likely to struggle with having these changes to their daily structure.
It is exciting to try something that it working successfully in another country.

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I'm so pleased to see that the well being of students and staff is being not only recognised, but change implemented to enhance this. All change is challenging and regular and honest feedback required with necessary adjustments. The benefits of a music program raise the question of how this can be implemented?

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I'm so pleased to see that the well being of students and staff is being not only recognised, but change implemented to enhance this. All change is challenging and regular and honest feedback required with necessary adjustments. The benefits of a music program raise the question of how this can be implemented?

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Ann