St Mary’s Catholic Infant and Junior Academies celebrate diversity and kindness 

St Mary’s Catholic Infant and Junior Academies, Newton-le-Willows, proudly participated in this year’s Anti-Bullying Week and Kindness Week with a series of activities that promoted respect, kindness, and diversity.

As part of the initiatives, pupils and staff of both schools took part in Odd Socks Day, a national awareness campaign that encourages individuals to celebrate their differences and embrace their uniqueness.

Children and adults are encouraged to wear their favourite odd socks to school, work or wherever they are going that day.   

Anti-Bullying Week is organised by the Anti-Bullying Alliance which is a group of organisations, charities and individuals who work together to put a stop to bullying.

Year 6 pupil, Clemency, said: “Odd Socks Day was so much fun! It shows that it’s okay to be different and that we should embrace who we are”.

The school also put together a ‘respect playlist,’ featuring songs that emphasise themes of friendship, kindness, and inclusivity. Each morning as pupils came into school, different songs were played on the playground to inspire the children and set a positive tone for the day. During some lessons, positive and uplifting songs were played to give children time to reflect and think about their choices within school.

Special assemblies took place throughout the week, where children explored themes of being kind, respectful, and inclusive through stories and discussions. In class, teachers made it a priority to shine a spotlight on children’s work and say something kind to every member of the class. Some classes held competitions and awarded prizes for every kind choice or comment made by the pupils.

Pupils also created excellent pieces of work in their ‘We Are One Family’ workbooks to reflect on how they demonstrated kindness. These thoughtful contributions were shared and promoted across the school.

Executive headteacher, Mrs Samantha Birchall, commented: “At St Mary’s, we believe that teaching children the importance of empathy, respect, kindness, and celebrating individuality is fundamental to building a positive school environment. Awareness days and weeks such as these are great ways of instilling these positive values in future generations.”