Special Events 2022-23

The week beginning 6^th February was Children’s Mental Health Week and the theme this year was ‘Let’s Connect’ The children explored this theme in their classes throughout the week as well as joining in with an assembly about the importance of connecting with others to help our wellbeing and mental health.

Reception

During Children’s Mental Health Week, the children in Reception thought about acts of kindness in our classrooms. Ideas included using kind words, helping with the tidying up and playing nicely with our friends. All of these things will make our school a happy and safe place to be. During the week we listened to stories linked to being kind and talking about our emotions, including Cbeebies Bedtime Stories “The Colour Monster” read by Amy Dowden.

We took part in some yoga and relaxation activities along with some mindfulness colouring.

Year 1

In Year 1, the children enjoyed completing the different Taskmaster tasks throughout the week. They were given the tasks and resources with little direction as to how to complete them and were excited to be able to be creative and figure out a solution. The children made a rainbow, created a new outdoor game and carried out an act of kindness. It was great to see the children connecting with each other through working as a team. The children also looked at the 5 ways to wellbeing to remind them of the tools they can use to improve their mental health.

Year 2

In Year 2, we thought about how we could make connections with each other in our classes. We talked about ‘Connect’ being one of the 5 ways to wellbeing and how we can try to connect with others around us. All the children were given a template of a person and they filled it with drawings of things about them such as their favourite hobbies, their family and their pets. They then discussed with their partner the ways in which they were connected by having things in common and the ways they are different.

Year 3

In Year 3 we celebrated Mental Health week focusing on the theme of ‘Let’s Connect’. All the pupils across the year got together in the hall and were randomly put into small groups of people they might not normally talk to. Pupils had to interview each other which questions such as ‘who likes dogs’ and ‘who enjoys swimming’. Once they had connected with new friends, they went back to class to colour in their designs, feeling mindful and connecting with themselves.

Year 4

During mental health week we explored new ways of supporting our wellbeing. In year 4 we took our learning outside and explored the ways in which the outdoor environment can support our mental health.

We took a stroll through the school garden and listened to the sounds of the outdoors while practicing ‘bubble breathing’, a great technique for when you are feeling overwhelmed.

Our task: (Nature self- portraits)

After our calming activities we began to collect leaves, sticks, pine cones and anything we could find that had fallen naturally on the ground.

We took our collection of outdoor resources inside and began creating our Nature self – portraits. The children loved exploring new ways to create all the features of their faces.

Reflection task:

Once we had created out self-portraits we created a class gallery!

We displayed our work and gave each other compliments. The children loved giving and receiving compliments to each other!

Here are some of the things the children said after the activity:

Ebony – “It made me feel appreciated to have compliments from people I do not normally play with.”

Aidan – “I felt really proud and happy to give others compliments.”

Year 5

In Year 5 we enjoyed dancing as an activity to improve and look after our mental health. The theme of let’s connect really fitted well with dancing in groups and as part of a whole class, the children and adults really enjoyed it.

For the second activity, the children were given the task of designing a rainbow, they could use any media they wanted and these ranged from watercolours to tissue paper! The task allowed the children to get creative in a calm, tranquil setting.

Year 6

During Children’s Mental Health Week, the Year 6 were exploring lots of ways to connect with each other during their residential trip! However, whilst in school they did enjoy taking part in mindfulness painting and colouring as well as there being many opportunities for them to reflect and focus on their wellbeing.

On Wednesday 22^nd February, Toftwood Federation invited pupils who are part of the Guiding organisation to wear their uniforms to school for the day to mark ‘World Thinking Day.’

This special day is a global event celebrated each year by the Girl Guiding organisation and has taken place annually since 1926. It is a day for all Guides and Girl Scouts to think of each other and celebrate around the world.  This year’s theme was ‘Our World, Our Peaceful Future’.  

Along with our Rainbows, Brownies and Guides, we invited children who belong to the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts to also wear their uniforms to school. It was lovely for us to see all the amazing badges the children have earned and for them to be given the opportunity to talk about their achievements.

During Autumn 2 Ellise Owen visited all the classes in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. The focus of the wellbeing sessions was Social and Emotional wellbeing.

Ellise started the session by reading the book The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas. In the story the colour monster learns about different colours that show the different emotions he feels. 

Ellise talked to the children about how these emotions feel in our bodies. The children showed Ellise how their bodies and faces change when they feel emotions such as sad, happy and calm. 

We then played games to help us to focus and calm down when we might get too excited or feel the uncomfortable feelings of cross or angry. This links well with our PATHS learning about using the traffic light control signals to help us to Stop and Calm Down, Slow down and think and Go! Try my plan. This helps us to ‘take notice’ of our feelings, which is one of our 5 ways to wellbeing.

Ellise finished the session by sharing some breathing techniques with the children to keep their monsters green, which is the calm colour.

It was a fantastic session for all the children across the federation and we will be using the techniques in school, to help to keep our monsters green as much as we possibly can! 

On Friday 18^th November we celebrated and raised money for Children in Need. The children look forward to this event each year and enjoy coming to school for a non-school uniform day. This year we invited the children to add a spotty twist to their outfits!

As well as a special assembly to discuss the important work of the Children in Need charity, we also saw lots of lovely activities taking place throughout the day. In reception the children were given the opportunity to create Pudsey a new outfit and in KS1 the children took some time out in the afternoon to work on some Pudsey themed mindfulness activities.

The School Council had the important job of collecting and counting the money donated. We raised an amazing £560!

A big thank you to everyone who sent in donations and helped us raise such an impressive amount for the Children in Need charity.

The Federation supported Anti-Bullying Week 2022 by taking part in ‘Odd Socks Day’ which is an annual event organised by the Anti-Bullying Alliance. On Monday 14th November all children and staff were invited to wear odd socks or brightly coloured/patterned tights to celebrate their individuality.

Throughout the week children also took part in discussions within their classes about friendship and the importance of kindness to others. We discussed what to do if we felt someone was being unkind and recapped the importance of our Golden Rules, PATHS rule and speaking to a trusted adult.
At both schools the children took part in special assemblies, with the Junior children learning more about cyber bullying and the effects it can have. Staff made links to our work on emotions and feelings in PATHS and what a positive friendship/relationship should look like, which is taught as part of our RSE learning.
At the Infant School the children in KS1 created ‘Helping Hands’ – naming 5 people they would go to if they felt someone was being unkind to them. In reception the children created their own odd sock designs to show their uniqueness! At the Junior School some classes created a ‘Kindness Wall’ for classmates to leave messages of appreciation for times when they had experienced an act of kindness from a friend or member of staff.

To support and acknowledge ‘World Mental Health Day’ (10th Oct) the Federation took part in the ‘Hello Yellow’ day organised by ‘Young Minds’, a charity that supports and raises awareness of the importance of young people’s mental health.
On this day, the children were invited to wear something yellow to school to support ‘Hello Yellow’ day. In classes, we discussed what mental health is and how we can support our own positive wellbeing.

www.youngminds.org.uk

We were deeply saddened to hear of the death of the Queen. Our children spent a great deal of time learning about her and her reign for the Platinum Jubilee. To help the children understand what had happened, and its historical significance to our country, special assemblies were arranged. We also created areas for the children to leave flowers. At both schools, the children created paper flowers to fill a display. The junior children created their display just outside the hall for everyone to see as they pass by. The display included photos of the Queen throughout her reign. The Infant display was created next to the Platinum Jubilee work from the summer term.

The children put so much thought and effort into their flowers creating a lovely focal point for the children to talk about their memories of the summer celebrations.