Where have those tiny little year three pupils, who I taught last year, gone? Everyone has grown so much over the five week summer break and everyone looked so much older today than just those few weeks ago!

What a great first day back we have had! We launched the first of our new ‘Character Traits’ today: Courage. All of our work has been based around courage and what this can look like to different people. We all learnt about a young boy called Joseph Wang who taught us that being brave doesn’t mean there has to be something risky involved like sky diving or swimming with sharks. Sometimes being brave can simply involve walking into a room full of people who are already listening to someone speaking at the front of the room.

This afternoon, we were joined by Nick from Project Wild. He introduced us to some of his friends: Humphrey – a beautiful corn snake; Cinnamon and Liquorice – two baby millipedes; and Charlie – a very beautiful Chilean rose tarantula. Everyone used their own levels of courage to decide what they could do. Some of us just looked at the animals, some of us stroked or gently touched them and many of us held them.

Well done everyone! I’m really proud of you all. Special shout out to Mrs Ogle who joined us for the session and was incredibly courageous along with us! Mason – you were awesome too, supporting Alec and calming him when he pushed himself to hold Charlie.

Remember the feeling you felt when you were courageous today folks and next time you feel anxious, scared or worried be brave, share your fear – whatever you’re afraid of probably isn’t as bad as you think!

Mrs Haycock

#LovePlover