The focus of #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek this year has been anxiety. Anxiety is a natural emotional response to stress or a perceived threat which we all experience. For others though, anxiety disorders significantly interfere with daily life.  There are lots of resources to support parents, but we recommend regularly spending time talking with your child about how they are feeling.  See the picture below for some questions that can help these conversations.  A couple of websites we also recommend include: 

Supporting A Child With Anxiety | Tips & Advice | YoungMinds 

Anxiety in children - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

The Anxious Child | Mental Health Foundation

We are seeing an increase in chocolates and sweets in lunch boxes and being handed out at the end of the day.  This means children are getting too much sugar in their diet, which has the potential to harm their development (increasing the risk of tooth decay and obesity). Please do not include chocolates and cakes in your child's lunchbox and aim for a balanced diet.  Please avoid bringing your child sweets at the end of the day - we recommend a piece of fruit, crackers or cheese.  Please do speak to your child's class teacher if you are worried about your child's eating habits as we are here to help. 

The NHS advise "Discourage your child from having sugary or high-fat foods like sweets, cakes, biscuits, some sugary cereals, and sugar-sweetened soft and fizzy drinks. These foods and drinks tend to be high in calories and low in nutrients.

Aim for your child to get most of their calories from healthier foods like fruit and vegetables, and starchy foods like bread, potatoes, pasta and rice (preferably wholemeal). And switch sweetened soft drinks for water."

Try these websites for more advice:

Healthier Families - Home - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Parents | Child Feeding Guide (a guide for supporting parents with fussy eaters)

Next week is Walk to School Week! If you usually drive to school please give walking a try instead (or park a little further away and walk from there)! We also have lovely bike and scooter racks ready for children to park up their bikes/scooters and would love to see these filled! 

WHY THE WALK TO SCHOOL MATTERS

HAPPIER CHILDREN

It’s been proven that children who do some form of exercise, especially a walk before school, do better in class because they arrive refreshed, fit and ready to learn.

LESS CONGESTION

During morning peak traffic times, one in five cars on the road are taking children school, contributing to congestion, air pollution and carbon emissions.

CLEANER AIR

The school run alone is responsible for generating half a million tonnes of CO₂ per year (which is more than some small countries!). Imagine what we could achieve if we began converting some of these rides to strides?

YEAR 1 CLASS WINNER

Well done to Swan class who won the attendance trophy this week with 98%.

Keep it up!