Nurturing Kindness Through Our Words

There is no doubt that what defines a person is their character. What we wish for our students is that they not only have the knowledge and skills to achieve in their futures, but that they are also citizens of the community with unquestionable integrity.

In Wardle House, we are definitive in our response to modelling wellbeing and community citizenship behaviours. It is not a hope that our students show kindness, gratitude and empathy - it is an expectation.

Our kindness letterbox sits purposely at the entrance to the Wardle House Reception, so as children enter and leave school for the day, they are reminded to stop and be grateful for the people in our school community. Writing a letter of gratitude for someone is not about being recognised for writing a letter, rather about recognising the endeavours of others. Letters can admire the smallest act of kindness or recognise a gesture that has turned around someone’s day. They are the means by which children can appreciate their teachers and the teachers can publicly thank their class.

Each week, when the letters are read at our Junior School assembly, there is always an excitement to see whose letters will be read, and whose names will be on the letters. Without fail, each week, the recipients differ, and the authors of the letters differ. And the random acts of kindness differ. It is a communal celebration of kindness that is expressed through words and breeds future positivity and goodwill.

Miss Melissa Schoorman - Head of Wardle House, Deputy Principal