Many of you may already be aware that this week is Children’s Mental Health Week, which we are endorsing through this year’s theme of ‘Express Yourself’. The theme is about finding ways to share feelings, thoughts or ideas through creativity. The CMHW website (https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/) has lots more information, ideas and resources, including a virtual assembly, to help you and your child celebrate Children’s Mental Health Week at home.

At Woodthorpe Infant School, we wanted to provide an opportunity to reconnect our school community and bring the children learning at home and those learning at school closer together. Therefore, we are bringing forward one of our school community art projects, originally planned for when all children return to school, to tie in with Children’s Mental Health Week. We would like every child to express themselves – their feelings, thoughts or ideas, through decorating a paper plate. Your child can decorate the plate any way they wish to, using materials they enjoy using.

Although strictly speaking CMHW is this week, we are going to extend this activity to continue over half term. If you do not have any paper plates at home, these can be collected from the school office on one of your family walks. Please feel free to get siblings and family members involved too. Once your child has decorated their plate, please write their name on the back, along with a brief description/explanation of what their design represents and return it to school by Thursday 25th February. The children that are currently attending school will be decorating their plate over the next couple of weeks. Once these are returned to school, they will be proudly displayed in the hall.

Thank you for your ongoing support and I look forward to seeing your designs!