The purpose of Children’s Mental Health Week is to encourage all children and young people, whoever they are, and wherever they are in the world, to be able to say – and believe - “My Voice Matters”.  We believe that every child has the right to express their views and feelings on issues that affect them and have their views listened to and taken seriously.  Our job as adults, whether that is in the role of teacher, parent or family member is to help empower children and young people, and provide them with time, space, and opportunities to express themselves. 

This in turn positively affects a child's health and wellbeing and has a positive impact on their self-esteem.

For all those reasons our children have been busy in the classroom this week taking part in a wide variety of fun activities.  Here's a snap shot of what's been going on.

We started the week focused on 'Us'!  We celebrated ourselves and everyone in the classroom shared something they were very proud of with each other. 

The next day the teachers encouraged students to reflect on what matters to them and what they want the world to hear.  They were encouraged to include their feelings, thoughts, dreams, or any important messages they want to share. They were encouraged to draw this in the shape of a spiral starting with the everyday things and spiralling out to bigger issues that happen in the wider world.  It was interesting to see what the children thought was most important!  

By mid-week we asked our children to simply write a thank you note to someone in a way that showed that person they were grateful for them and made them feel like they mattered.  The teachers were quite moved by some of these letters.  

We plan to end the week with a theme of 'Dress to Impress' as an opportunity for self-expression and we are expecting some impressive outfits on show - watch this space!!