Children’s Mental Health Week and Dress to Express Worship
Today was our special ‘ Dress to Express’ Worship to celebrate Children’s Mental Health Week. The theme of Dress to Express this year is ‘Know Yourself and Grow Yourself’. Children's emotional well-being is just as important as their physical health. Good mental health helps them develop the resilience to cope with whatever life throws at them and grow into well-rounded, healthy adults Our Heads and Deputies led the worship this week and started by telling everyone how they express themselves and they asked us all how we express ourself best. We heard that some children express themselves through playing football or other sports, dancing, listening to music and art etc. Mrs Ham showed us photos of how she likes to support her mental health through walking up huge fells with her dogs and her family. We then watched a clip from Inside Out the movie when Riley looked at various memories. We met sadness, joy, fear, disgust and anger. The children and Mrs Ham then acted out an emotion and the rest of the children had to guess what it was. We all feel different emotions but these affect our mental health. 5 Ways to Well-being are a great way to support our mental well-being such as: being physically active, connecting with others, learning new skills, giving to others and paying attention to the present moment (mindfulness). A question that the children presented asked ‘ How well do we really know ourselves?’ The children really enjoyed watching the clips and guessing the emotions that the characters were showing. The children shared when they too had experienced the emotions and how it made them feel. In another clip, we learnt about a boy named Malaki who felt like he was bad at everything he tried. Malaki was encouraged to ‘level up’ by his friends and people around him who cared for him. He was challenged to try a new skill which included skiing and ballet and tried his best with both. Although he wasn’t great at ballet he was awarded recognition for his determination and resilience. The children were asked what they had learnt from the video and the responses were: to keep going even if you aren’t the best, to not fall at the first hurdle and you can do anything that you set your mind to. We are all unique and special and God gave us many talents, some of yet we might not have discovered. We should let our light shine for all the world to see. We said our special Year of Prayer about our talents again and thanked God for the talents we have and the ones we are yet to discover. Our Heads and Deputies then finished with a special prayer for Children's Mental Health Week. To end our Worship we had the pleasure in listening to Renee, Molly, Alice and Lyla who read their acrostic poems ‘ Being Me’ and we sand 'Shine from the Inside Out' with our best singing voices and actions. What a wonderful way to start our day and a great end our Children's Mental Health Week, although we know that we need to focus on our mental health and wellbeing every day, not just this week.
Year 1- Year of Prayer
This week’s theme for the Year of Prayer is praying through the use of a ‘Prayer Band’. Year 1 have enjoyed drawing people that they would like to pray and thank God for such as their mummy, daddy, grandparents, siblings and pets. Some children also chose to draw and think about the wider community such as people who are sick in hospital, those who are in the midst of war and refugees who are having to flee their homes. Whilst saying their prayer, the children held on to their prayer band. We are really enjoying learning about lots of new ways in which we can pray. Well done Year 1
Year 3- Presentation of Learning- History- Past and Present
Over the past three weeks, Year 3 have been learning about how children's lives have changed over time, comparing the past and present. Today, we shared our findings with the whole school in History and Guided Reading. We discovered that childhood and adulthood were defined differently in various historical periods—Roman children were considered adults at 12 or 14, Tudor children started working as young as 7 or 8 and became adults at 15, while in Victorian times, adulthood was reached at 21. Today, the legal age of adulthood is 18. We also explored how daily life has evolved, from clothing differences in Roman and Tudor times to changes in communication, transport, and technology. In the 1930s, toys were homemade from wood, and before Sat Navs, people relied on paper maps to plan their journeys. Seatbelts and airbags were only introduced in 1959, and television was only available in black and white until the 1970s. In the 1990s, Sat Navs were invented, and home computers connected to the internet using phone lines. The children have been great historians, asking thoughtful questions and making insightful connections, and they are thoroughly enjoying this unit as they continue to explore how the past has shaped the world they live in today.
Year 4 - Great Big Live Assembly
In Year 4, we took part in the Great Big Live Assembly for Children’s Mental Health Week. We heard stories from various children about how they try to look after their mental health and things that can affect their mental well-being. The children said their key takeaways were that there are children around the world getting only one meal a day, that these children have to worry about where their next meal is coming from, and also that it is important for us to address and share our worries so that they don’t get out of control.
Year 1 Class Worship- Picture News
Today in class worship, Year 1 explored the following question, ‘How do you become the best at a sport?’ Miss Flynn was really impressed that many of us already knew who the sportsperson Luke Littler was and why he had become famous. We thought about what skills Luke Littler would have needed to demonstrate in order to become the famous darts player that he is today. The children came up with some very thoughtful answers such as having the patience and perseverance to practise again and again. They recognised that he wouldn’t have got to the advanced level that he is at now at without making mistakes along the way and having to continually work hard to improve his skills. For example, the aim of his throw. We thought about how we can show courage when we are working on a skill in order to improve and be the best that we can be.
Year 1 Class Worship- Children’s Mental Health Week
Today in class worship, we engaged with the Blackburn with Darwen Children’s Mental Health Presentation on the theme of ‘Know Yourself and Grow Yourself.’ We started by discussing what mental health is. Olivia said that mental health is looking after yourself on the inside, Alessia said that it is having a happy heart and mind and Callie said that it’s about how you feel. We then thought about the following question, ‘What are the signs that our mental health is good?’ We recognised that our mental health is good when we are feeling happy, we can can concentrate and enjoy lots of things in our lives. Isabella said that this could be enjoying spending time with our family, Alayna said that this could be enjoying spending time with our siblings, Samuel said this could be enjoying going to places such as the play centre and Vienna said this could be enjoying playing with our friends or having some alone time to practise a skill or talent. We learnt that to have good mental health, we must recognise when we are feeling negative feelings such as sadness and anger so that we can support and comfort ourselves by doing something that we enjoy. We also learnt that if a feeling is becoming too big to manage or cope with and it is stopping us from sleeping, having fun or not being able to concentrate then we must seek support from someone that we trust. The children decided that they would ask the support of their mummy, daddy, other family members or teachers at school. To end our worship, we had some beautiful prayers.
Reception: Class Worship- Children's Mental Health Week
At the start of our worship we lit our candle and signed the trinity. We then burnt our Frankincense incense stick to create a calming environment. We discussed what mental health was. Mental health is all about our feelings and our emotions. We discussed how we know when we have good mental health. Eleanor said we have lots of friends, Marnie May said we will feel happy, Beau said we might feel excited and Luna said we will be able to complete lots of challenges. If we have big feelings that are negative, we might feel sad. We were reminded that it is good to talk when we feel sad. We discussed who we could talk to. The children said Mummy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandad and the teachers. We discussed what we could do to look after ourselves to make us feel good. The children said they could write, draw, colour, play football, play with our toys and play with our friends. We were reminded that feelings come and go but talking to someone we trust can help. Thank you to MHST for a wonderful worship. We finished our worship with a dance to make us feel good and then sang Who is the king of the jungle.
Year 6 Worship - Children’s Mental Health Week
This week is Children’s Mental Health Week and this was our focus during class worship. The children listened to a live stream that gave strategies and advice for improving our mental health, for example that worry isn’t actually a bad thing, as long as we deal with it in a positive and healthy way. That dodging our worries doesn’t help us and that we should stop and think about our feelings and connect with others. We heard about the experience of other people around the world, for example refugees from the Ukraine and children living in Ghana. An important message we took away from listening to these individuals, was the importance of hope.
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Year 3- Class Worship- Know Yourself, Grow Yourself
Year 3 participated in class worship today by joining the live assemblies for Children's Mental Health Week. This year’s theme, "Know Yourself, Grow Yourself," focused on helping children understand their emotions and develop resilience. As part of the session, the children made different facial expressions to show emotions such as anger, shock, and happiness, helping them recognise and understand their feelings to face challenges with courage and hope. Daniel, an 11-year-old refugee from Ukraine, shared his experiences of overcoming trauma and what helped his mental health. We also heard from children in Ghana about their creative approaches to well-being, supported by World Vision. This was a valuable opportunity to show that every child’s story matters and that no one is alone.
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Children's Mental Health Week Launch Worship & YOP- Talents
This morning Mrs Ham launched our Children's Mental Health Week theme of 'Know yourself, Grow Yourself'. We started by looking at our school vision that says 'Achieving great things through learning and growing together'. We thought about what the growing together means and we had some super suggestions such as growing emotionally and mentally, getting better at things and not giving up when we find things hard. We then looked at our emotions and how they control our brain, just like in the film Inside Out. We thought about the times when our brain tells us that we aren't good at things and we had some great examples such as in acro when doing cartwheels, in maths or art and when we do things for the first time. We thought of ways to challenge our brains and help ourselves grow by doing things that we enjoy such as listening to music, taking part in sports or other hobbies, showing courage to try new things etc. We then focused on our Year of Prayer for this week which is thanking God for our talents. We shared our talents and thought about ways we could express our talents this week and especially on our dress to express day on Friday. We reflected on how we should shine from the inside out and always respect each other's God given talents and the way we like to express ourselves. We discussed that if we laugh at the way someone likes to express themselves then that might hurt their feelings and they will feel sad and won't want to express themselves that way again. We said a lovely prayer thanking God for our talents and how we promise to share them with others and respect others' talents. We finished with singing one of our favourite songs 'Shine from the inside out' which reminds us that God knows us, loves us and fills us with talents that we need show to everyone we meet.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship thanking our whole school for coming to school in non-uniform to raise funds for food, shelter and first aid supplies for those in America who are being affected by the LA wildfires. Thank you to our Rotakids for organising the non-uniform day to help make a difference . We then reflected on a busy week in school. This week, we held in our thoughts all the Jews who suffered in the holocaust and thought about how we can show love, kindness and generosity to our neighbours and again we have enjoyed some wonderful dance and gymnastics sessions led by Rothwell Arts and some amazing extra-curricular clubs such as Foodie Friends, Craft Club, Basketball and Multi-Sports Club led by Edstart. We then congratulated Haydn, Eve and Eddie in EYFS and KS1 and Jack, Leo, Luca and Leonora in KS2 for pushing themselves out of their comfort zone and trying new things, demonstrating hard work and perseverance in their learning and showing all of our Barny’s 4Bs (being ready, respectful, kind and safe). Furthermore, we congratulated Year 2 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners this week, India Mill as our overall value award winners this week with 431 points, our Sportshall Athletics squad for winning their heat on Tuesday evening and getting through to the finals and our new Science Ambassadors (Noah in Year 6, Matthew in Year 5, James in Year 4 and Naomi and Cassidy in Year 3) for their fantastic applications. A huge well done to these children- we know that you will be amazing in your new role! We then congratulated our out of school sports award winners. Well done Ava for being awarded two gold trophies in her dance, Reggie for demonstrating fantastic football skills, Alice, Olivia and Daisy for their ‘Inspiring Women’ creation that won them a trophy at Brownies, Luna for winning ‘The Tiny Ballet Dancer of the Year’ award, Archie for achieving listening and follow the instructions at swimming, Lilly for achieving a special award in dance, Darcy for being a super gymnast, Lyla for working hard to master the aerial (a cartwheel with no hands), Grace for achieving two medals for song & dance and her own choreography, Annabel for achieving Star of the Week at Musical Theatre, Scarlett for being a super defender at netball and achieving the gold award and Beau for achieving Stage 5 in her swimming. To end our worship, Mrs Ham reminded us that it’s Dress to Express next Friday 7th February for Children’s Mental Health Week and we had some beautiful prayers from Vienna and Ralphi who prayed for those less fortunate than ourselves, including those who don’t have food and drink at their disposal as we do and those are in the midst of war, conflict and natural disasters. We then sang ‘Sing a New Song’ and thanked those who could attend celebration worship. We thank the rest of our school family for all of your continued support. We wish you all a lovely weekend.
Year 1- Year of Prayer
This week’s theme for the Year of Prayer is special fingerprint prayers. In Year 1, the children made themselves using their fingerprint and said a prayer to thank God for making us special and unique. We had children saying thank you for their families including their mummy and daddy, for their special talents such as football and dance and for giving them characteristics such as perseverance and strength when things get tricky. Well done Year 1!