Pupil Voice Week was held from 21st – 25th September 2020 and this year the theme was ‘It’s good to talk’. The aim of the week is to help children recognise the power that speaking up can have on the school community’s mental health and wellbeing.
The week began with a special assembly to highlight the event and to set the scene for a week of lots of talking!
Children were given the opportunity to talk to one another about lots of different topics including who to talk to when you are worried, how to be a good listener and ways that we can improve our mental health. The Mountains Class wrote letters to explain the value of talking and offer their words of wisdom for keeping themselves feeling happy through difficult times.
The Woodland Class made speech bubbles of all the reasons why they know it is good to talk!.
Later in the week, The Meadow and The Woodland Class took their talking out with them on Forest Thursday! The outside environment helps children feel empowered and connected with the land, flora, and fauna so where better to share the importance of talking to each other about themselves, their thoughts and their likes and dislikes.
After a general group conversation, the children split into groups of two (one older and one younger), to ask each other questions to enable them to find out more about their partners. It was wonderful hearing the reception children asking; “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”, “What is your favourite colour?” and “Do you have any pets?”.
As a school, we are always looking to develop opportunities for quality conversation and this year we plan to introduce some ‘Philosophy for Children’ sessions within lessons and to partner with our families to use the speaking and listening resource from ‘Picture News’.