Mindful Mondays and Assemblies

Our assemblies are carefully sequenced to promote our core values, raise the profile of key events and build relationships. A typical week is as below:

Monday – An in-class assembly discussing and developing learning behaviours such as: good sportsmanship, being responsible for homework, using a growth mindset.

Tuesday – A lower or upper school assembly led by Mr Newnham or Mr Hanshaw that promotes a core value and may be linked to a current event, Fundamental British Value or SMSC. For example, Black History Month and Resilience, or Children In Need and Cooperation, Democracy Day and Responsibility.

Wednesday – An in-class assembly that revisits the learning behaviour from Monday with a discussion prompt or challenge.

Thursday – An in-class assembly that revisits the core value from Tuesday with a discussion prompt or activity.

Friday – A celebration assembly for weekly certificates and house point winners.

Occasionally, we may also have visitors to promote local charities or events, for example, this academic year, we have enjoyed visits from the YMCA, Southend Foodbank and St Vincent’s. All of our assembly content is shared via a link on the weekly newsletter.

In addition, we have a “soft start” on Monday mornings; the children are still required to register at their usual time, but there is a 15-minute window for “Mindful Monday” before the main learning of the day begins. This is built in to allow children to settle back into their classrooms after the weekend, check in with an adult if they need to and deliver regulated learners to their first lesson of the week. Teachers typically choose to lower the lights, play some relaxing music and have a few low stakes tasks that the children can choose from (colouring, journaling, reading etc). This is a great way to build a safe and calm environment – here’s what the children have to say about starting the week this way:

“I think it’s good because you’ve had the weekend and you’re not used to school yet so it helps you settle back in.”

“You might have done something really exciting at the weekend and be feeling silly so it helps you to feel calm and be ready to learn.”

“It gives me time to think about things and talk to an adult if I need to.”

“It’s very helpful to learn about things like growth mindset, how to treat others and how to be a good communicator.”

“It’s calming and relaxing and helps you to be ready for your lessons.”