Lower 6 Pupil, Ella Murray, has been teaching nursery and primary school children yoga as part of her Community Service option this year. She spent the first few weeks learning yoga postures, breathing techniques and teaching skills and progressed to planning her own 20-minute yoga lesson which she based on the popular children’s story ‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson.  

So far, she’s successfully taught in five different nurseries and primary schools around Norwich, where the 3-5-year-olds have really enjoyed her lessons and left the sessions feeling happy and calm. 

Below, Ella tells us us a little about how she has found the experience so far...

Q1. Why did you decide to teach Yoga as part of your community service? 

"I wanted to learn a new way of exercise and stretching, and wanted to share it with others. For me yoga is a nice way to relax and ready myself for the day ahead." 

Q2. Did you have any experience of yoga beforehand? 

"In primary school we did some basic yoga, but I barely remember it. It was fun to learn a new skill." 

Q3. What has been the most challenging part of this? 

"The most challenging part was coming up with my yoga lesson – putting all my new skills into one 20 minute lesson was tricky, but fun nevertheless." 

Q4. What has been the best part of this? 

"The best part is after teaching the yoga to classes, you can see the children are more relaxed, and teachers have mentioned doing my yoga in their lessons to calm the class down. It’s nice to know that I’ve made a difference." 

Q5. What are you looking forward to?  

I’m looking forward to my next teaching, at my old primary school. It will be fun to go back and pass on my knowledge. 

Q6. What’s next? 

"I think I will keep improving my yoga skills, as it improves my coordination and balance, which is useful as an athlete." 

Q7. What would you do differently? 

"I would slow down my lessons. Because I was nervous the first few lessons I sped through them, but i would recommend taking it slow and enjoying the moment. Life moves too quickly to not take time to slow down once in a while. " 

Q8. What would you say to someone who is thinking of doing this for their community service? 

"Definitely do it! It’s really fun to learn a new skill and to pass that skill onto others. If you want to do something different and that gives back to the younger community, yoga is the right option!"