The power of kindness
The best way to show the impact of our
they think of ways to promote and lead
Collectively, the Junior School girls
approach is through the girls’ voices and
a culture of kindness within our Junior
rose to the challenge of ‘Walking for a
feedback collected in Term 1, 2021:
School and beyond.
Kinder World’ set by the Fly High Billie
“Kindness makes you feel happy. It helps
charity for World Kindness Day. In the We also introduced a Junior School
four weeks leading up to that day, the
kindness ambassador; Heidi the
girls circumnavigated the globe virtually
Hedgehog, who now regularly visits
by recording their kilometres of physical
“Kindness is our key to changing
girls in their classrooms and is a valued
activity each week and mapping how far
our world”.
symbol of our kindness mission. Allowing
around the world we therefore travelled.
children to engage with a character
This was a simple and collaborative
provides a gentle way of assisting them
way of helping to spread the message
to connect with and articulate feelings.
of kindness as far as we could. Danny
It is easier for young children to learn
“Being kind for no reward and when no
Mason-Kinder, founder of the Fly High
how to express their own feelings by
one is watching is true kindness”.
Billie charity, was astounded by the
following the example set by a character
lengths our girls went to in support of
“When I am kind to someone, I know I
with whom they engage. Heidi the
their kindness mission. Simple acts of
am making them happy but it also makes
Hedgehog provides a starting point for
kindness, and the gift of your time, can
me happy and I then feel good inside”.
conversations on the importance of
have significant positive impacts on the
kindness. Having Heidi the Hedgehog Our approach is to teach our girls to act
lives of others; a key message we want
as a symbol of kindness encourages the
from their heart in all their thoughts and
our girls to understand.
girls to think about ways to demonstrate
actions; namely to act with kindness.
and appreciate kindness.
your mental and your physical health as it stops you feeling anger or frustration”.
“Being kind is easy, it can be as small as a smile, or a compliment, just little stuff ... but it has a big impact”.
Central to this teaching is the belief that we choose our actions. By articulating this clearly to the girls we hope to build their sense of agency. We are teaching the girls that each day we have the power to make choices as to how we want to be in our social interactions. Kindness requires both choice and action. Peer modelling is a critical factor in fostering a culture within a school, so we introduced Kindness Captains in 2020. Each class elects a representative for a term who meet weekly (both face-toface and online) with Mrs Brown, Head of Junior School; Mrs Davey Acting Deputy Head of Junior School – Wellbeing; Mrs Genia Wright, Head of Learning Support and Miss Rachael Gibson. The teachers provide agency and voice to the girls as
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Illuminate Research and Innovation
The way Junior School girls have moved from working enthusiastically
KINDNESS TO OTHERS
on initiatives which were teacher led, to
Year 6 2020 built their entrepreneurial
setting up their own business initiatives
skills choosing charities to support. They
to complete acts of kindness within their
honed their persuasive skills as they
communities has been most impressive.
approached companies for donations
We had girls who made and sold
to these charities. Through sustained
bracelets to raise money for the koalas,
effort over a prolonged period the girls
another girl worked with her mother to
overcame hurdles and disappointment
sew masks for children in Victoria and a
and learned much about themselves
family was inspired by their daughter over
while acting in kindness. Without directly
the Christmas period to work together to
seeing the impact of their benevolence,
cook meals for the homeless in Sydney.
the girls could feel the power of their actions and were able to articulate the
KINDNESS TO OUR ENVIRONMENT
joy they felt by helping others. There is
In terms of kindness to the environment,
a Russian proverb which likens a kind
our inquiry learning enables the girls
word to a spring day, suggesting a sense
to apply kindness concepts in a global
of renewal, growth and positive energy
context, learning to pose solutions to
stemming from kindness.
real world problems. Year 4 held an Expo showcasing their prototypes to solve
