As she reels from the most devastating tragedy a mother could endure, Esther Ghey is on a remarkable mission.
Just weeks after coming face to face with her daughter’s teenage killers, she has stepped back into the classroom in a quest to make children kinder. Her transgender daughter Brianna was stabbed to death by two 15-year-olds, a devastating hate crime which reverberated around the globe.
But with sadistic Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe behind bars, she is trying to make kids’ lives better rather than hiding away. She’s campaigning to have mindfulness sessions made part of the national curriculum. It comes from a steadfast belief it could stop other youngsters from turning to violence. And always in her thoughts is Brianna, who she lost at just 16.
Esther is supporting the ‘Mindfulness in Schools Project’ in memory of her daughter Brianna Ghey (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)Esther, 37, told us: “I don’t know if it would have stopped Brianna’s murder, but what I do know is that if children are taught from a young age to have empathy and self-compassion they will be happier and feel better about themselves. Our lives are a reflection of what’s going on in our minds, so if young people are feeling happy and settled inside they will emit that in their daily lives.
“The pressures of modern-day society are immense, so if we get mindfulness into schools, we can provide young people with coping strategies that they can use in their school years and the rest of their lives.” Esther, of Warrington, Cheshire, spelled out her plans on a visit to Our Lady Immaculate Catholic Primary in nearby Liverpool on Thursday.
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Joining a class of Year 2 pupils, Esther learned more about how the practice can support children to feel happier and healthier (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)Here pupils aged four to 11 have benefited from weekly mindfulness lessons for five years. Joining a class of Year 2 pupils, Esther learned more about how the practice can support children to feel happier and healthier. The session began with imaginative movement-based activities to release pent-up energy.
The group aged six and seven then gathered in a circle to blow bubbles and balloons to soothing music before finishing off with finger tapping – physically tapping out emotions on their hands. Teacher Nicky Beattie, who delivers the classes across several local schools, said: “It’s a way of focusing children to notice the little things.
Scarlett Jenkinson (Cheshire Constabulary/AFP via Ge)
Eddie Ratcliffe (Cheshire Constabulary/AFP via Ge)“It’s about teaching them to respond instead of react, find ways to steady their wobbles and manage difficulties they’re going through. And they report feeling more confident, being able to manage disappointment and generally getting on better with others.”
They include seven-year-old Tsun, who told us the classes make her happy and better able to concentrate. Little Akan, six, added: “The tapping makes me feel calm and the bubbles make me feel super relaxed.” His pal Deigo, seven, added: “The balloons are crazy but the tapping makes me feel much calmer.”
Acting head Louise Partington said: “Children are struggling more and more with their mental health post-pandemic and we need to give them the skills to survive. Mindfulness gives them that resilience and staff have noticed an improvement in pupil behaviour.”
Brianna Ghey's mother Esther heard harrowing evidence about her daughter's final momentsEsther, who has been practising mindfulness for eight years, said it helped her and Brianna’s big sister Alisha through “the worst days of [their] lives”. She added: “I look back now and wish I’d learned these skills earlier on in life and passed them on to Brianna. I think she would have been much happier in her teenage years if she had experienced mindfulness as a child and it may have prevented her from suffering from an eating disorder and self-harm.
"When Brianna died I would go for walks and look at the blossoms or the sky and was reminded there is still beauty in the world – it kept me going.” Esther is working with the Mindfulness In Schools Project to roll out classes which she hopes will go nationwide.
Esther Ghey visits the Lady Immaculate Catholic Primary School in Liverpool to watch children in a mindfulness class (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)She hopes the classes – funded through charitable donations –will be backed by the Government and is working with Labour’s Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols to make it happen.
Chief executive Emily Slater said: “It doesn’t seem fair that some children in this country are benefiting from mindfulness and others aren’t. “Out of such a horrific tragedy, Esther is allowing us to do something positive in a time where many of us, including our youngest members of society, are grappling with a world that is increasingly complex and challenging.”
Campaigner Esther Ghey visits the Lady Immaculate Catholic Primary School in Liverpool (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)Ratcliffe and Jenkinson lured Brianna to Linear Park in Culcheth, near Warrington, and stabbed her 28 times with a hunting knife on February 11 last year. The sick duo were jailed for life last month.
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Last week Ratcliffe, now 16, lodged an appeal against his sentence after being ordered to serve at least 20 years. Jenkinson, who was obsessed with serial killers and described by the judge as the driving force behind the murder, has been ordered to serve at least 22 years. Mrs Justice Yip, who sentenced them at Manchester Crown Court, said Jenkinson was motivated by a “deep desire to kill” while Ratcliffe was partly spurred by his hostility to Brianna’s transgender identity.
To register interest in mindfulness training for your school or setting, email support@mindfulnessinschools.org
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