This week, St Vincent’s celebrated World Week – a special time dedicated to celebrating our wonderful world, our heritage, and our diverse backgrounds. Year 1 is a beautifully diverse cohort, with children from around 20 different countries, and World Week was a joyful and exciting way to end a brilliant half term.
We began World Week with an assembly led by Miss Carruthers, who introduced the theme of the week and outlined what each day would involve. The assembly created lots of excitement across Year 1. Monday also marked Children’s Mental Health Week, with this year’s theme being Belonging. The children discussed what belonging means and shared ideas such as feeling safe, included, and accepted. They then created maps showing places where they feel they belong, including school, church, home, clubs, and time spent with their families.
On Tuesday, we marked Safer Internet Day with another assembly from Miss Carruthers, focusing on the importance of staying safe online and this year’s theme of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The children learned that AI stands for artificial intelligence and that it is trained to learn, think, and solve problems like humans. However, it was emphasised that AI is not human and does not think independently, so we must always use our own judgement. Back in class, the children took part in activities identifying safe and unsafe ways to use AI, demonstrating excellent understanding.
Wednesday was an especially exciting day as the children took part in a drama workshop delivered by the company Perform, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Thursday was Spirituality Day. We began with a beautiful Mass led by Father Philip, celebrating our special world. Back in school, the children completed activities linked to our house saints: St Patrick, St George, St David, and St Andrew. They learned that these saints are not only our house saints but also the patron saints of the countries within the UK, and enjoyed discovering interesting facts about each one.
Friday was our much-anticipated Cultural Day. The children came to school dressed to represent their countries and cultures, ready to celebrate. We started with a cultural assembly, with many Year 1 children proudly taking part. This was followed by our main RSE activity, which focused on identity and what makes each of us unique. Each child created a gingerbread figure representing their own wonderful identity. In the afternoon, we created “hands around the world” and explored the many countries represented in Year 1. We discovered that our class includes children from over 20 different countries, and we created a beautiful display to showcase this diversity. To end the day, the children shared family photos and talked about their families and where they come from.
World Week was a truly special celebration of our children, their families, and our school community. It was a wonderful way to celebrate diversity and bring the half term to a joyful close.
