Rydal Penrhos Daily Notes – May 20

Day 43 from Rydal Penrhos’ keyworker childcare provision – 13 pupils, 8 staff

A slightly different photo today…not one of Rydal Penrhos pupils, staff, the school grounds, the classroom or the flagpole (apparently I take a lot of photos featuring the flagpole!).

Today’s photo is linked to my favourite characteristic…kindness.

I mention ‘being kind’ in every assembly and it really is a motivating force behind how I think a school thrives and is successful; well actually behind how any part of society lives and functions successfully.

If you ask your child what Mrs Davies always says we have to be, I’m sure that 80% will answer ‘be kind’; for reference, I think about 10% will say, ‘be resilient’, 5% will say ‘be brave’, 3% will hedge their bets and say, ‘I can’t remember’ and 2% will say random unpredictable things such as ‘ I like Mr Ducky’ and ‘always wear a cycle helmet’ (not so random as these are also mentioned in assembly!).

During these difficult ‘lockdown’ times we rely on kindness more than ever and it’s heart-warming to see the many acts of kindness featured on the news each day and witnessed nearer to home in our neighbourhoods. One such small act of kindness happened yesterday in school when a letter arrived for the pupils at the Prep School (and we all know how much I like a letter!).

Inside there was a short anonymous note saying, ‘I saw on your school website that the keyworker pupils are enjoying their work in the school garden and thought they might like to plant these sunflower seeds’.

Also included was the card in the photograph explaining about a charity initiative called the Sunflower Project. How kind and thoughtful…and our pupils were so pleased.

The sunflowers will all be planted by the end of this week and we look forward to recording their growth and enjoying their beautiful flowers.

Thank you to the kind person who took the time to send in these seeds, we often don’t see the end result of our kindness but, trust me, it is always appreciated.

Mrs Lucy Davies

Head of Rydal Penrhos Prep