Real courage is being afraid but doing it anyway

27th November 2024

GB’s Charlotte Worthington, a former chef from Manchester, who only took up BMX seriously five years ago, won the gold medal in the BMX freestyle final with an incredibly brave performance. In her first run, she fell attempting to land her key move. Instead of opting for a less difficult second run, she went totally for broke landing an absolutely perfect 360-degree backflip – the first woman ever to do so in a competition – and throwing in a load of other difficult tricks for good measure! 

Courage is about acknowledging that life can be uncertain and frightening. Sometimes we have to feel the fear and do it anyway - by taking sensible risks. Unhelpful thoughts can get in the way of 'Finding your Brave'. Can you list the kinds of things that might stand in the way. (I’d like to…but, I want to…but, I don’t like it when…. but) then try to rewrite each of these statements by turning them into something more positive. 

Trust your instinct and keep it simple

20th November 2024

This week we are thinking about trusting your instincts.  But what are our instincts?

Instinct are something that are quite natural, a way of behaving, thinking or feeling that is not learned.  Our intuition is our inner compass that helps us to manage situations with a feeling of what is right for us.  It is an awareness of our own senses, the feelings of butterflies in our stomach or suddenly being aware of our own heartbeat or breathing.  Our bodies respond in different ways in certain situations, such as a faster heartbeat and quicker breathing when we are feeling scared or anxious. 

Learning to trust our instincts and use our best judgement is really important and has the potential to help keep us safe plus build our confidence and self esteem. 

This is a photograph of Yusuf Dikec, Turkey’s air pistol athlete.  The 51-year-old silver medallist went viral for his laid-back demeanour during his event where he was captured with his air pistol raised in one hand, his other hand in his pocket, without any ear or eye protection, taking a very relaxed approach to competing. There’s a lot to be said for trusting your gut and believing in yourself.

If like, Yusuf, you believe in your physical abilities, your inner strength will soon follow.   Intuition can tell you when a friendship in school isn’t right; like if a peer asks you to do something they don’t want to do or makes you feel uncomfortable. Recognising and listening to your intuition can help you to avoid a friendship or decision that doesn’t feel right. Intuition will also help you with maintaining friendships that are positive and removing yourself from situation that don't make you feel good about yourself.  Intuition can also tell you when something is more threatening, like a virtual friend asking you to do something you are uncomfortable with.  

There is an old saying 'Trust your Gut' that refers to trusting these feelings of intuition, often as a way of staying true to yourself and not being influenced by other people to perhaps making a decision that doesn't feel right for you. 

Choose words that heal, not words that steal.

13th November 2024

This week is anti-bullying week, so I have found some great slogans to help get the message across, that bullying is not ok.  Slogans are short and striking or memorable phrases used in advertising to grab your attention and convey a clear message to your audience.  Have a read of the slogans below then see if you can follow the hints and tips to have a go at creating your own slogan about bullying. 

• Hurting others won’t fix your problems.

• Stand up for your friends and they’ll stand up for you.

• Putting others down won’t bring you up.

• All for one and one for all.

• You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!

• Good guys don’t bully.

• There’s no such thing as friendly teasing.

Create your own slogan

1. Understand your audience - make sure people can understand the language you use.

2. Keep it simple - short and easy to remember.

3. Use rhyme and rhythm - this makes it easier to remember.

4. Promote positive behaviour - aim to encourage the positives you want to see.

5. Maintain respect - slogans should promote a change in behaviour not be cruel to children who bully.

6. Call to action - inspire the reader to do something about it.

7. Test it out - get some feedback and make changes if necessary.

8. Creativity is key - interesting word play will make it stand out.

Please come and share any slogans you create. 

Ego or Eco

10th July 

Are you ego or eco?

Ego is to rule over, to be in charge, on top.

Eco is to think of others (people and other species) as equal. Eco is to treat the world with kindness and respect. 

In assembly this week we have been discussing buying Fair Trade products and considering how the choices we make can impact on others and the world.  When you buy Fairtrade you treat farmers and workers fairly and everyone benefits. Fair trade helps businesses source products that are ethically and sustainably produced while giving consumers confidence that the people behind the products they buy get a fair deal for their hard work. 

In life we have lots of choices to make on a daily basis.  I wonder if you can always consider whether your choice is Ego or Eco.  Look at these scenarios below and decide if the children are being ecologists or egotists. 

• James has shared his thoughts with the class and his teacher. When Bill is telling the class what he thinks, James turns to ask Evan what he’s having for dinner. 

• Jane loves playing table tennis. When her class go for lunch she gives her bat to another child to play with.

• Claire runs down the corridor. She wants to be out to play first.

• Mark wants to play with the skipping rope. When the bell goes for dinner he hides it for when he’s finished eating.

Biodiversity

12th June 

This week we have been finding out about biodiversity and the number of species that are endangered.  Imagine never being able to see your favourite animal again, only in a museum.  Below is a poem about an animal that existed a very long time ago.  Dodos were first seen by Europeans in 1598. But they were hunted it for meat and their habitat was destroyed; the last Dodo was seen alive less than 100 years later, in 1662.

The Dodo used to walk around,

And take the sun and air,

The sun yet warms his native ground - 

The Dodo is not there!

The voice which used to squawk and squeak

Is now forever dumb -

Yet may you see his bones and beak

All in the Mu-se-um.

What sort of poem do you think this is? Funny? Sad? Perhaps both? How do you think poets might write about extinct animals today? 

Disabilities

27th March 2024

This week we have been thinking about disabilities and understanding further about the things that make us different.  In assembly I shared the book 'We're all Wonders' about a little boy with a facial abnormality, and what it must be like to live in his world - a world in which he feels like any other child, but he's not always seen that way.  All children want to belong and be seen for who they truly are, so we need to treat each other with kindness. I have taken some quotes from the book 'Wonder' for you all to think about this week and inspire you to always choose kindness. 

1. “When given the choice between being right or being kind choose kind.”

2. “Kinder than is necessary. Because it's not enough to be kind. One should be kinder than needed.”

3. “Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness.”

4. “It’s not enough to be friendly. You have to be a friend.”

5. “The best way to measure how much you've grown isn't by inches or the number of laps you can now run around the track, or even your grade point average-- though those things are important, to be sure. It's what you've done with your time, how you've chosen to spend your days, and whom you've touched this year. That, to me, is the greatest measure of success.” 

6. “We carry with us, as human beings, not just the capacity to be kind, but the very choice of kindness.”

7. “It's what you've done with your time, how you've chosen to spend your days, and whom you've touched this year. That, to me, is the greatest measure of success.” 

Love and Kindness

14th February 2024

Happy Valentine’s Day

Often on Valentine’s Day when we use the word love, most people think of romantic love, but there is far more to it. In fact, the ancient Greeks had as many as 30 different words to describe the shades of emotion that we try to contain in the one word, ‘love’. This week in assemblies we have been thinking about love and kindness.  But what is love and kindness? Simply put, Kindness is love in action. It is taking the love you have in your heart and giving it away to another. To be kind is to be caring, generous, helpful, and supportive of others. Kindness doesn't have to be a grand gesture. Even the smallest acts of kindness have the power to transform someone's day.

Every act of Love and Kindness counts!

- Kindness is free

- Everyone, everywhere can become kinder

- Practising kindness every day makes us kinder and creates a better world for all

- Every act of kindness, no matter how small, makes a huge difference!

One recognised type of love is agape, and this is possibly the most important of all. Agape is selfless, undeserving and generous. It’s the kind of love that makes people volunteer for the jobs that nobody else wants to do. It’s the kind of love that is concerned for the needs of other people less fortunate than ourselves. 

Now you understand a little more about love and kindness, have a think about how you can demonstrate love and kindness to:

1 Yourself - have a positive attitude and think ‘I can, allow yourself to make mistakes.

2 Others - volunteering to help someone else, hold a door open, smile at everyone, give a compliment.

3 The World - pick up some litter, plant something, feed the birds, don’t use single use plastic. 

What is Fair?

10th January 2024

Equality or Equity? 

In assembly we discussed these two words.  Can you remember what they mean?

Equality - Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. 

Equity - Equity recognises that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. 

For things to be fair to everyone in our world, we need to understand that people have different needs, situations and goals and that some people may have additional barriers and challenges. Therefore to be fair, we need to achieve equity by removing any barriers and that requires giving different people different things so everyone can achieve their full potential. 

Resolutions

3rd January 2024

Resolution - A firm decision to do or not to do something 

Creating New Year’s resolutions is a tradition that many people participate in around the beginning of the New Year on January 1st. The start of a new year is seen as a new beginning or a fresh start and therefore can be used as an opportunity to think about goals we would like to achieve over the coming months.  

People have been using the start of a new year to make positive changes in their lives for a long time. For instance, in Ancient Rome, people used to make promises to the gods that they would return any borrowed items and pay back their outstanding debts. Most of these promises were made to Janus, which is where the month January gets its name. Whether any of these promises lasted into February is still anyone’s guess! Since the days of Ancient Rome, New Year’s resolutions have grown a lot in popularity. In the early part of the 20th Century, only around a quarter of people made a resolution. These days, that figure is closer to 40%!

Are you going to make any resolutions for this year? This term we are going to be thinking about 'caring for others' so perhaps you could think about how your resolution could care for someone else.