I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the buzz around school with School Production last week. It brought the school community together. Kids singing and performing, parents being involved with costumes, staff doing things like make up and making raffle prizes for the event. I think we were all smiling and singing along during both performances which were absolutely amazing.
Naturally, I also saw the whole range of emotions from kids (and staff and parents!) as before, during and after the performances. Excitement, pride, bravery and joy, as well as nervousness, tiredness, frustration, anger and fear. Talking through these emotions, all of which are valid, is essential.
I have been exploring the topic of Change with a group of Year 3 students. We have discussed the changes that they are going through (change of Grade, moving house, parents separating, family members or pets dying) and both the good and bad aspects of change. We have also talked about how change is inevitable, and therefore we need to develop skills to deal with it. During ,my most recent session with the kids we looked at building our confidence, believing in ourselves and giving things a go, and how confidence can help us when things change in our lives.
The kids of course could talk a lot about the need for confidence to be in the school production. Having to stand up on a stage in front of all those parents is a huge deal for some of our students. Believing in yourself and giving things a go is something that we as staff and parents can model to children to help them have the confidence to do it themselves. I know that I for one am stepping out of my comfort zone by making craft with the kids during my Friendship Spot at lunchtime. I thought it would be fun to make pom poms! I often hear the kids say, ‘This is too hard’, ‘I can’t do this’, ‘Will you do this for me?’ which gives me the opportunity to talk them through how to do it for themselves step-by-step, to give it a go, to push themselves, to persevere even when it felt like it was taking forever, as well as learning from their mistakes. My first pom pom did not turn out!
Below are a couple of articles which you might find interesting on building resilience in our kids as well as why our kids are more anxious post-COVID – and what we can do to help them.
https://www.maggiedent.com/blog/little-things-are-big-things-building-resilience/
Sarah McIntosh
Student Welfare