In my mind, the summer term was always the one I looked forward to most – memories of lunchtimes playing out on the fields, warm afternoons, sports days, school trips, relaxed lessons… the sense that we were getting ever closer to the long summer holidays.
But actually, this term can be one fraught with anxiety for some children… and teachers! Phonics screenings, SATs, transitions to secondary school, transitions to a key stage or a new class. There’s a lot going on and this can really raise the levels of stress in the classroom.
Everyone reacts differently to stress – and for some it brings big emotions and sometimes difficult and challenging feelings. Heads Up Kids has produced free resources with linked activities for both KS1 and KS2 to support teachers to talk about stress, explain to the children how it can impact us, what it looks and feels like and most importantly suggest coping strategies for when we feel this way. The resources include a video to watch with your class, some guidance on how to build a discussion about stress and some worksheets for children to process the learning individually.
At Heads Up Kids we believe that it’s so important to normalise feelings of stress. To help children understand that we all feel stressed at times and that there are many things that we can do to help us feel better when we are stressed. Children will understand when stress feels too much and when they need to tell or ask a grown up for help.
Visit our resource page to download your copy now!
