The first strategy concentrates on breathing. It includes a guided meditation for pupils to relieve stress and grow awareness of how their breathwork can help them feel calm and relaxed. It gives practical tools to carry out daily as the first of six strategies.

In week one, ask your pupils to follow my first video and get ready to close their eyes and listen to my instructions. After they have completed their breathing, ask them to share how they feel. Ask them to name some of their daily habits, for example, brushing their teeth, getting dressed, then explain the benefits of practicing breathwork every day.

Please ensure your pupils have their Happy Tank Tracker with the QR code for them to practice on the weekend with grown ups.

Reflection is the next strategy. It emphasizes the importance of self-awareness to lead a more successful and fulfilling life. It provides a practical guide on how to take a step back and reflect on one’s life, behaviors and choices. This helps pupils to slow down on the treadmill of life and grow their self-reflection. Ask your pupils to follow what I say on the video, get ready to close their eyes and listen to my instructions. After your pupils have completed their reflection, ask them to share how this will help them in school and life.

Please ensure your pupils have their Happy Tank Tracker with the QR code for them to practice over the weekend with grown ups.

The third strategy is kindness, which helps children gain a deeper understanding of empathy. It focuses on forgiving oneself and others as the step to acts of kindness to self, family, carers, school, friends, community and the planet. Ask your pupils to follow my video and get ready to close their eyes and listen to my instructions. After they have completed their exercise, ask them to list acts of kindness they will carry out during the week. Ask them how each stage of kindness can help them grow and connect to those around them.

Please ensure your pupils have their Happy Tank Tracker with the QR code for them to practice over the weekend with grown ups.

Week four focuses on affirmations and how they connect to positive psychology and increase optimism in daily implementation. The ability to reframe and see good in situations can improve one’s outlook on life. The more optimistic a person, the happier they are. This brings benefits to positive thinking and emotional wellbeing. This section affirms the power of memorizing phrases to change negative thinking patterns and replace them with positive ones, forsake comparisons and access a new belief system to reach higher levels of happiness.

Please ensure your pupils have their Happy Tank Tracker with the QR code for them to practice over the weekend with grown ups.

The fifth strategy, gratitude, is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. It helps feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve health, deal with adversity, and build stronger relationships. It helps children have an awareness of what they have and as a consequence reduces negative feelings of wanting and grasping things they do not have which can cause negative emotions. Ask your pupils what they are grateful for. One cannot be unhappy and grateful at once, so if anyone is upset or experiencing unsettling emotions, asking them to focus on what they are grateful for, will shift their focus and alter their mindset. There is always something to be grateful for.

Please ensure your pupils have their Happy Tank Tracker with the QR code for them to practice over the weekend with grown ups. 

The last of six strategies is Happy Tapping – EFT “Emotional Freedom Technique”. It aims to teach pupils how to tap into happy vibes every day and offers practical steps on areas of the body (the heel of the hands, around the eyes, the area below the nose, below the lips, the collarbone, underarm, and top of the head) to clear negative feelings and lighten up altogether. This technique is based on Chinese meridians (energy lines in the body) and tapping on these points can release blocked negative emotions and unhelpful thought patterns.

Please ensure your pupils have their Happy Tank Tracker with the QR code for them to practice over the weekend with grown ups.

It’s Day 1 of the Happy Tank.

I am very excited, because I know you and your pupils are about to learn new ways to support your mental health and wellbeing, which in turn will help you walk around with a big smile on your boat race (face) :).

Your pupils will love their daily practice and how simple it is to take a few minutes every morning to feel calm, relaxed and ready for learning.

The Happy Tank is a great way to teach children how to form positive daily habits to support their mental health and wellbeing.

After watching the introduction video and day 1, get your pupils ready and ask them to close their eyes and learn the first part of the Happy Tank which is ….breathing!

After your pupils have completed their breathing exercise, ask them to share with you how they feel?

Ask your pupils what habits they do daily, for example, brushing their teeth, getting dressed etc, then explain to them the benefits of practising their breathing every day.

See you bright and breezy and full of the breath of life, tomorrow.

How did you get on yesterday?

I wonder if you had mixed feedback from your pupils. Oh, the joys of working with children!

In today’s practice, I would like you to discuss with pupils why it is as key for them to practice filling their Happy Tank every morning as brushing their teeth, I mean, imagine what would happen if they went a day or two without brushing their teeth!

Today, we are going to fill two parts of our Happy Tank – first with breathing, then secondly, with our reflection time.

Reflection time is a great way to reflect on anything in life and gives your pupils the opportunity to think about their actions and choices all in silence with their amazing creative minds.

After all, your pupils have completed their breathing and reflection, ask them to share with you how they felt after their practice, what they reflected on, and how reflection time can help them. You could even share how the Happy Tank is helping you!

Hello again, how are your beautiful angels with dirty faces? I suppose that is one description you can have for your pupils. It’s day three, and your pupils will be starting to form Happy Habits. Some will already be enjoying certain parts of the Happy Tank. Today we are going to make progress and move up another level with one of my favourites, which is KINDNESS.

We will start with breathing, reflection then kindness, all in one sitting. This is the same format as yesterday. Get your pupils ready and ask them to close their eyes and listen to the video of my good self. At the end of their practice, ask your pupils which part of the Happy Tank they are enjoying so far.

You could also ask them what kind words they say to themselves, or whether they ever think about other people with their kind words.

WOW!

It’s already Day four, and we have nearly done our first week together, sharing the excellent practice of supporting our mental health and wellbeing with the Happy Tank. With your pupils building up to the weekend, let them know that they must complete seven days to get their bronze certificate, and two of them have to be in their own time at the weekend…Who’s up for it? Following breathing, reflection and kindness, come affirmations. Until tomorrow, why not ask your pupils if any of them would be up to practice one or more parts of the Happy Tank in the evening.

I feel good da, da, da, da, da, da, da! James Brown doesn’t have a scratch on the UK Kindness Ambassador for schools; that’s me, by the way, just in case you forgot.

Back to the Happy Tank, it’s the big build-up to the weekend, and all your pupils need to prove that they have practised and taken out fifteen minutes in the morning to fill their Happy Tank. 

In your teacher resources, there is a Happy Tank bookmark so the children can track their progress and tick what they have done during the week and more importantly at the weekend.

Encourage all your pupils to do their best to fill as many parts of the Happy Tank as possible and if they are allowed to visit YouTube @TheKindnessCoachTV (Happy Tank Demonstration), they can fill it with meeeeee John Mageeeeeee!

Bronze Award Certificate

I don’t know if it is just me; I love rewarding pupils for their hard work and efforts, and what better way than with an amazing Happy Tank certificate.

I would like you to praise your pupils and encourage them to keep up the good work. But we don’t stop there, we now push on forward for their silver certificate, and they have to complete another week which will be fourteen days in total.

Download your Bronze Award Certificate (pdf format). [Download here]

It’s week two, day eight, and here we go; let’s get this happiness flowing.

Ask whether your pupils practised filling their Happy Tank at the weekend. If some didn’t, let them know that’s okay and encourage them to do their best the following week. Why not share with them one of my most loved affirmations, which is …“I am always doing my best until I find a better way of doing things.” Now the good stuff, give them their Bronze Certificate. YAY!

Let them know this week, we are aiming for our Silver Certificate, which is another seven days in total and the goal this week, to get ready for the weekend, when they can practice in their own time and track progress with their Happy tank bookmark.

Now, let’s get down to creating some positive mental health with our breathing! Press play on the video and let’s do this!

Good morning! I hope you and your class are ready to fill your Happy Tank. How blessed are your pupils to have such an awesome teacher like your good self. 

Like last week today, we are going to fill two parts of our Happy Tank, first with breathing then secondly with our reflection time.

After your practice, talk with your pupils about why it is important to create daily habits that are good for our mental health and wellbeing. After all, it is important to do that, is it not?

I know the kids are making progress, I wonder how you are getting on as a teacher and how much the Happy Tank is having an impact on your well being.

Happy Habits Make Me Happy.

Why not share that phrase with your children? I love sharing the phrase with pupils when I deliver the Happy Tank in schools. That is what we are teaching the children as well as ourselves about forming HAPPY HABITS. You will notice I have a HABIT of repeating myself, but that’s a story for another time. Like I said, last week we went up a notch, now today, we are going to make progress and move up another level with one of my favourites, which is KINDNESS.

We will start with breathing, reflection then kindness all in one sitting. This resembles a meal with a starter, main and desert, in your favourite restaurant. While it is important to fill your tummy with the good stuff, you also need to fill your head and emotions with the good stuff.

Play the video and let’s all drop-in deep and fill our Happy Tank!

Seriously, Seriously, Seriously, it’s week two, day 11.

Time flies when you are taking good care of your own mental health and wellbeing. I would like you to praise your children and let them know how well they are doing, I mean, we all like a bit of praise, don’t we? Ask the children before they start. Have they all been tracking their PROGRESS? Remember, “we are not looking for perfection, we are looking for PROGRESS.”

In today’s practice, we are going up another level or two. Today, we have breathing, reflection, kindness and affirmations. Until tomorrow, why not ask your pupils if any of them would be up to practice one or more parts of the Happy Tank in the evening or to come to the front of the class and demonstrate a part or parts of the Happy Tank for two dojo’s or class points or whatever you reward your pupils with for the hard work and efforts?

Did somebody say weekend?

I do love the weekend and waking up a little later on a Saturday and Sunday, but the first thing I do is to fill my Happy Tank. I toddle off to my Zen Den and check in with myself and take care of my mental health and wellbeing as I know this is the best way to start my day. Why not share that story with your pupils and let them know that how they start the day will have a massive impact on how the rest of the day goes.

Let’s do this. Press play and your pupils are going to fill their Happy Tank from start to finish… Remember after gratitude to ask children to open their eyes and get ready for Happy Tapping.

With it being the weekend, let all your pupils know, they need to prove that they have practised and taken out fifteen minutes in the morning to fill their Happy Tank with their bookmark. See who will be up for demonstrating after the weekend.

If they have access to the internet, why not encourage all your pupils to do their best to fill as many parts of their Happy Tank as possible and if they are allowed, visit YouTube @TheKindnessCoachTV (Happy Tank Demonstration) and fill it with meeeeee John Mageeeeeee!

Silver Award Certificate

I don’t know if it is just me. I love rewarding pupils for their hard work and efforts. What better way than with an amazing Happy Tank Silver Certificate.

I would like you to praise your pupils just like you did last week and encourage them to keep up the good work. But we don’t stop there, we now push on forward for their GOLD Certificate, and they have to complete another week, which will be 21 days in total to complete the Happy Tank Programme.

Download your Silver Award Certificate (pdf format). [Download here]

YAY!

It’s our final week and I know that you and all your pupils will be happy from learning how to fill your Happy Tank. Isn’t it amazing how we can learn how to create HAPPY HABITS that support our mental health and wellbeing? Remember when I said last week about rabbiting on, YEP! I will crack on now with teaching the good stuff.

Today and this week are by far going to be awesome. You are going to need twenty minutes every morning from start to finish, as every morning your good self and pupils will be completing the Happy Tank from start to finish. As I said last week, remember after stage five (gratitude), ask the children to open their eyes and start their Happy Tapping please. Feel free to pause the video if need be!

At the end of the lesson, ask your pupils if they are feeling calm and relaxed!

See you tomorrow bright, breezy and full of your Happy Habits!

Here we go again as we dive deep into a start to finish Happy Tank. Ask your pupils to sit down comfortably, this is important, posture helps massively when filling your Happy Tank.

This week is extremely important, because the pupils are learning how to consistently follow the exercises from start to finish and take out twenty minutes for their own wellbeing. This, in turn, has a very positive impact on their learning. You as a teacher will be beginning to notice how they are more chilled going into their morning learning, are you not?

Sooner or later, your pupils will become Jedi Masters at taking responsibility for their mental health and well being. The question is, are you doing the same?

Before we start filling our Happy Tank, let’s ask the children a few questions:

1. Has any pupil been practising in the evening?
2. Does any of your pupils feel calmer and more relaxed?
3. Who could they teach the Happy Tank to?

I believe that when we learn something that helps us in life, we need to pay it forward to help others. I have had a number of schools where pupils have set up a Happy Tank room at break and lunchtime. Children can go and sit there with a Kindness Ambassador(s), who facilitates them to do their Happy Tank and calm them down. How inspirational!

Okay, back to filling our minds and emotions with the good stuff. Press play on the video and let’s do this!

Week 3, day 18 – your pupils will now have formed their Happy Habits and because we are near to completing the twenty-one-day challenge, I would like you to talk with pupils about building up to the weekend for them to take ownership of their mental health and wellbeing. I often think of this, that if we don’t take care of our teeth, we have a rotting tooth. We go and see the dentist, who gives us sound advice about what to put in our mouth, then we brush our teeth at morning and night time to preserve dental hygiene. The same goes with the Happy Tank. We have to aim for morning and dare I say, NIGHT time to take care of OUR mental health. If we don’t, who will?

I will get off my soapbox, I have vented and feel better. Like I said yesterday, let’s fill our minds and emotions with the good stuff. Press play on the video and let’s do this!

As I write this my heart is bleeding with an abundance of happiness, because I am proud of you. You now know how important it is to form Happy Habits whether it be with the Happy Tank or whatever other medium to support our mental health and wellbeing.

Before we start filling our Happy Tank, I would like you to ask your pupils who would be up for the following:

1. Who can they teach daily parts of the Happy Tank to?
2. Who is up for doing it in the morning and evening?
3. Who would like to teach younger pupils in school?

It’s absolutely vital we do not cease practising what we learnt in our twenty-one-day challenge. The reason I created the twenty-one-day challenge in the first instance was because it has been scientifically proven that it takes twenty-one days to create or break a habit. Keep going after 21 days and what better way to do this than by teaching someone else the Happy Tank format. It will be a win, win.

Drum roll, please. Play the video and let’s fill our Happy Tank, then after the weekend, let’s get ready to give all pupils their GOLD certificates and see who wants to pay what they have learnt forward. It is important to mention there is nothing stopping you from continuing to practise the Happy Tank in the morning, after lunch or even before the end of the school day.

If they have access to the internet why not encourage all your pupils to do their best to fill as many parts of the Happy Tank as possible and if they are allowed, visit YouTube @TheKindnessCoachTV (Happy Tank Demonstration) and they can fill it with meeeeee John Mageeeeeee!

You did it!

GOLD AWARD CERTIFICATE

This is the big finale. I would consider making a fuss of all your pupils and giving them all their certificates in an assembly if at all possible.

Download your Bronze Award Certificate (pdf format). [Download here]

Breathing

Reflection

Kindness

Affirmations

Gratitude

Happy Tank

Pupil Feedback

Bronze Award Certificate (pdf format). [Download here]

Silver Award Certificate (pdf format). [Download here]

Gold Award Certificate (pdf format). [Download here]

Tracker (pdf format). [Download here]

Evaluation Form 1

This Evaluation Form is to be completed by pupils at the START of the Happy Tank.  [Download here]

Evaluation Form 2

This Evaluation Form is to be completed by pupils at the END of the Happy Tank.  [Download here]