Today sees the launch of the Crompton House #WriteaSmile postcard project, one of a variety of activities happening in school to raise awareness of Children’s Mental Health Week (7th – 11th February 2022).
The #WriteaSmile project encourages students to think about what makes them feel happy, a funny memory, poem or joke – write it down on a colourful postcard, and send it to another child, with the aim of bringing a smile to the faces of both the writer and the reader.
Year 8 English students along with the School Book Council; who thought up the idea behind the initiative, have hand-written over 60 postcards for the children at Beal Vale Primary School, part of the Crompton House C of E Multi Academy Trust. The theme of this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week is ‘Growing Together’, and the students hope #WriteaSmile will encourage links between pupils at both schools to blossom.
Madison and Kaya, our #WriteaSmile Ambassadors, were invited as special guests to Beal Vale’s online assembly to launch the scheme on Monday 7th February. The children at Beal Vale were excited to find out they are soon to receive a delivery of the postcards, and learnt that they will #WriteaSmile back to us at Crompton House later this week.
Throughout Children’s Mental Health Week, students at Crompton House will be exploring this year’s theme of ‘Growing Together’ in PSHE lessons and assemblies. It is also ‘Dress to Express Day’ on Friday 11th February where students and staff will wear funky socks (with normal school uniform) to give visibility to the important issue of children’s mental health. We look forward to seeing lots of interesting and colourful socks!
Claire Cullen, Learning Zone Manager at Crompton House said of the initiative:
“We were bowled over by the creativity of our Book Council who came up with this lovely idea – it’s a brilliant way of highlighting the positive effects that reading and writing can have on our mental health and wellbeing. It’s so important that we communicate and ‘check in’ on each other and in a world of technology and texts, as a society we forget how nice it is to receive a handwritten message even if it’s just a few words and a smile.”
Lynsey Macfarlane, Assistant Headteacher of Teaching and Learning & Emotional and Mental Health Lead at Crompton House said:
“It is so important to raise awareness of children’s mental health, as we all need help and support to grow emotionally. This year’s theme of ‘growing together’ encourages us to connect with others in our community; the #WriteaSmile project is a wonderful way of spreading some happiness from one child to another.”
Greg Ball, Headteacher at Beal Vale Primary commented:
“Our children loved listening to the Crompton House #WriteaSmile ambassadors in assembly and cannot wait to receive the postcards this week. The message about taking care of our own mental health and well-being is such an important one and seeing the excellent example being set by older pupils is very inspiring for our children at Beal Vale. As a Multi Academy Trust, building shared experiences between the schools is something we love doing and the children definitely have their thinking caps on for ideas of messages we can send back to make CHS students smile!”
More information on Children’s Mental Health Week can be found here:
https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/schools-and-youth-groups
