News and Views

A Drama Class for Shy Kids… Really? Yes, really!

If you have been told by your child’s teacher that they rarely put their hand up in class, drama could be the answer.

StageAbility helps children to build their confidence and self-esteem by teaching acting and theatre skills so that they can overcome life’s challenges, even if they are really shy.

Mrs Smith from Wokingham told us, ““My daughter has been a part of StageAbility for nearly 5 years now. She has loved the weekly classes. My family and I have loved watching her grow in confidence. StageAbility has been amazing for her to help nurture her passion for drama and it’s also given her a great network of friends.” Classes are not performance-based; they are great fun and lots of the work is through drama games building trust and friendships. After-school drama classes run in Wokingham, Lower Earley, Tilehurst and Burghfield Common. To book a trial class, visit https://stageability.class4kids.co.uk

COMPETITION: WIN A TERM OF DRAMA CLASSES AT STAGEABILITY!

If your child is in Year 3-6, you could win them a term of drama classes!

Question: Are StageAbility drama classes performance-based? To enter, e-mail your answer, along with your name and e-mail address to editor@familiestvw.co.uk by 28th February 2022. All entries from new students will receive a discounted offer of classes at Stageability.

Help fund vital research by joining Wear A Hat Day!

Join thousands of children, parents and teachers on Friday 25th March for Wear A Hat Day – a great way to bring people together and raise vital funds for leading charity Brain Tumour Research.

Register your school, community or family event today: www.wearahatday.org and we’ll send you a free fundraising pack!

Coming at the end of March, Brain Tumour Awareness Month, several celebrities are supporting this hattastic campaign.

The latest set of collectable Wear A Hat Day pin badges have a regal theme in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year. Order your box of badges to sell during registration!

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer. This is unacceptable and Brain Tumour Research is determined to change this. Funds raised from Wear A Hat Day will help towards establishing a new Research Centre of Excellence.

Take part in National Storytelling Week

Home from Home with Chilly Powder

National Storytelling Week takes place from 29 January to 5 February and during this period, stories will be told in schools and theatres, pubs, museums, village halls, community centres and in many other places across the UK.

Speech and language therapists believe that storytelling is vital for children’s academic success as it promotes narrative skills and strengthens the ability of children to correctly sequence ideas. To be a good reader and writer a child needs firstly to be a good speaker and listener.

Above all though, storytelling is fun. Whether we are listening to someone else’s story or telling our own, inventing and adapting stories can open doors to exciting new worlds — both real and imaginary. To find a local event or to look through its extensive archive, visit www.sfs.org.uk

Do you prefer winter or summer in the Alps… or both? Francesca, Paul and their three children live in Morzine in France all year round and have a good knowledge of Alpine traditions and the Morzine people. Having adapted their chalet holiday style over the years to suit the tastes of their regular guests, they offer the perfect ski and summer holidays for either families, couples or mixed groups in relaxing luxury, with fantastic food and outstanding facilities, with unrivalled inhouse childcare facilities. For many returning guests Chilly Powder is considered a real home from home. www.chillypowder.com For more about Chilly Powder chalets for summer and winter visit www.chillypowder.com

NEWS & VIEWS Families Thames Valley West to Donate to The Woodland Trust with Every Issue Looking for things to do in the New Year?

This magazine is a wonderful local resource, and I would like it to remain relevant and positive. Amid increasing concerns about the environment and the impact of a product that uses paper, I have decided to make a donation to an environmental charity with every issue of Families Thames Valley West magazine that is printed.

My initial intention was to donate to a charity that plants trees, naively assuming that these would cancel out any trees that had been cut down. However, after discussion with Clive Pierce, an environmental campaigner and expert on climate change, I realised that the value of existing mature woodland, both to nature and humanity, far outweighs that of newly planted trees. I will therefore be donating to The Woodland Trust, which maintains some of the most valuable biodiversity woodlands in the U.K. and works to promote sustainable land management, whilst continuing to educate myself about conservation and environmentally-conscious actions. Lesley Chambers, editor

Children’s Mental Health Week 2022

From 7 to 13 February, families across the UK are encouraged to take part in Children’s Mental Health Week with the theme Growing Together.

Growing Together is about growing emotionally and finding ways to help each other do the same. Challenges and setbacks can help us to grow and adapt and trying new things can help us to move beyond our comfort zone into a new realm of possibility and potential.

Run by the children’s mental health charity Place2Be, children (and adults) are being asked to consider how they’ve grown, what they need to help them grow and how they can help others to grow too.

Around five children in every classroom have a mental health problem and many more struggle with challenges from bullying to bereavement.

Help raise funds to enable Place2Be to reach more people by organising a Dress to Express fundraiser. Find FREE resources for parents and carers and more information at www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk

Welcome to Rugbytots: fun, weekly classes for children aged 2-7, themed around rugby!

Rachel Cooper has five years' experience running a franchise, and she has recently purchased East Berkshire, Reading and Henley, so new classes have arrived in Tilehurst, Caversham, Earley and Woodley, alongside the wellestablished classes in Henley, Marlow and Maidenhead.

Each class starts off with a fun warmup game, followed by passing and catching, the amazing obstacle course/relay races, kicking and one of many fun-filled Rugbytots games to finish the class, leaving everybody on a high.

Every class has a lead coach and an assistant coach, and the classes are delivered with excitement, enthusiasm and drama, which really engages the children.

Feedback from parents all over world mirrors this comment: ‘My little one’s confidence has grown, his listening skills have improved, his behaviour has improved.”

For more information, go to: https://www.rugbytots.co.uk/ or e-mail rachelc@rugbytots.co.uk.

More risky playgrounds are better for kids

The British Children's Play Survey revealed recently that British society is becoming more protective of children, at a detriment to their ability to manage risk and their overall mental and physical health.

David Ball, a professor of risk management at Middlesex University, said UK playgrounds were ‘over-sterilised.’

‘If you look at them only as a series of potential dangers, you’re missing something important’ he said.

By contrast, in Germany, playgrounds are being built to be dangerous, forcing children to negotiate perilous obstacles while risking injury if they fall.

According to Prof Rolf Schwarz of Karlsruhe University of Education, who works with councils and playground designers to develop challenging obstacles, 'safe' playgrounds prevent kids from learning how to handle risk in the early stages of their development. 'If we want children to be prepared for risk, we need to allow them to come into contact with risk,' said the professor.