This Children’s Mental Health Week we have been exploring the theme ‘Growing Together’. Some growth is easy to see, like when we grow from babies into children or when flowers grow in spring. But other growth may be more difficult to spot. In fact, it might seem like we’re not growing at all. 

Another way that we can grow is emotionally. Things that upset us when we are younger may no longer be so upsetting when we’re older. 

Challenges and trying new things can help us to grow and adapt.

We all need support to help us to keep growing, especially when things get tough. We need our parents and carers, our teachers, our friends. We often need others to help us to believe in ourselves, to keep going, and to try doing things a bit differently.

Y1 took part in a 'Growth' activity where we talked about things we have accomplished so far in our lives as we have grown, despite the challenges, but also how we would like to grow in the future. We talked about it being ok to find some things hard, to feel sad and other emotions but how we can ask for help to make things easier.

In Year 2 we have been looking at ‘Reaching for the stars’ as part of Children’s Mental Health Week. We enjoyed singing along to and joining in the actions for the song ‘Reach’ by S Club 7 and talking about different goals that we can set for ourselves and how we often need to take small steps to reach those goals. We created a ‘Reach for the Stars’ display on our classroom door where each child wrote a goal that they would like to achieve by the end of Year 2.

In Year 5, we compared the growth of our body and mind to the growth of trees. We discussed how you can tell the age of a tree by how many circular lines are inside the trunk, so we filled our own trees with ideas that will support us to grow physically and mentally. 

“Be like a tree. Stay grounded. Connect with your roots. Turn over a new leaf. Bend before you break. Enjoy your unique natural beauty. Keep growing.”

– Joanne Raptis