Related articles
This week is Children’s Mental Health Week 2021, with this year’s events focusing on the theme of Express Yourself (01 – 07 February 2021).
Expressing yourself is about finding ways to share feelings, thoughts, or ideas, through creativity. This could be through art, music, writing and poetry, dance and drama, photography and film, and doing activities that make you feel good.
To mark the start of Children’s Mental Health Week, The Duchess of Cambridge, Patron of Place2Be, has sent a message of support encouraging children and parents to find ways to share their thoughts and feelings, particularly during such a challenging time.
At KPS we’ve put together a series of activities for students and teachers to get involved in this week, with the theme of Express Yourself at the centre.
On Monday, our Year 7 PE classes will be enjoying making healthy energy drinks as part of their live cook-along sessions!
On Tuesday, our Year 11 students will be trying their hand at the PE cook-along session.
Students are also being encouraged to express themselves through their clothes and share their choices in their online form time.
Form time will also see students taking part in a scavenger hunt escape room activity!
Dress up in clothes that express your personality… consider bold, bright colours, all blacks, patterns, logos, pictures, words and style.
On Wednesday, it’s the Year 10 students’ turn to blend up their healthy energy drinks in the Sports cook-along.
Mr Gosden will be performing a musical number live at Breaktime for students to enjoy online.
We’re also offering parents the opportunity to join a live KPS yoga session from 5-6pm with Miss Farmer!
On Thursday, students will be asked to create an inside-outside box!
Decorate a box with images and words on the outside to represent the qualities you show to the world, and the inside representing your inner qualities, interests and passions hidden to others. Discuss why we do this and what stops us sharing all of ourselves with others.
Year 8 students will be making their healthy energy drinks in the live PE cook-along session, and we will be launching the first of our weekly parent book club sessions, Between the Lines, looking at Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other.
On Friday, our week will finish with…
An assembly on Children’s Mental Health with members of the student council presenting and Miss Farmer feeding back on the wellbeing survey and our weekly Cultural Friday in the virtual staffroom.
Ms Jardim has also introduced a competition to celebrate this week’s theme…
Competition: Express Yourself
Create a short video (up to 5mins), a photo montage, song, poem or artwork that expresses who you are as a person!
This could include your likes/dislikes, strengths, interests, dreams, passions and anything in between! Be as creative as you like… a video using Lego people or a photo montage including your own drawings… this is all about expressing yourself!
Students should send their entries to Ms Jardim via Microsoft Teams chat function…
Deadline: Sunday 07 February, 12pm.
Other activities that students and staff can do in their free time include…
- Writing a daily journal: a great way to write down your thoughts, feelings and note down anything that comes to mind! Do this through writing/ mind-maps/ drawings etc.
- Understand how dance can be used as a form of self-care: watch the following videos to see how dance can be used as a way to de-stress.
- Discuss the importance of talking about your feelings: choose a video from the two below and discuss why it is important to acknowledge to ourselves, and express to others, how we are feeling.
Kensington Park School places the students’ individual wellbeing at the heart of our lessons and co-curricular clubs, as well as through every interaction that students have during their school day. Particularly during this term of online learning, we are committed to ensuring that the mental & physical wellbeing of our students is protected and promoted.