From The Head - Friday 7th February 2025
'Know yourself, grow yourself' has been the focus for Children's Mental Health Week 2025.
The theme has provided an opportunity for children to focus on themselves and their feelings, and throughout the week, they have participated in a range of activities to explore how they feel and what it means to be them. Examples of these activities were shared in assembly this morning providing some very poignant moments and giving food for thought.
The more we can understand about ourselves, the more prepared we are to take on life’s inevitable ups and downs. Self-awareness includes things like our strengths, things we find difficult, our likes and dislikes, what makes us unique, what connects us to others, and our feelings, our hopes and dreams.
The Johari Window is a model that helps to explain and improve self-awareness and self-communication. The window is divided into four quadrants; open, blind, hidden, and unknown:
- Open Area – things that you and others know about you; the things that are evident on a daily basis that you share freely and openly.
- Blind Area – things that you don't know about yourself; but others do, our faults and weaknesses we are often blind to.
- Hidden Area – things you know about yourself, but others don't; often things you don't want others to know about you due to shame or embarrassment.
- Unknown Area – things that neither you nor others know about yourself which could be a skill, a talent or a latent ability that currently lies undiscovered and unused.
Being self-aware is essential for personal growth and development, it helps us to make better choices and decisions, giving us the power to influence outcomes and increase self-confidence. Acknowledging where we struggle or go wrong can be a challenging thing to do, but is ultimately beneficial and empowering in driving self-improvement.
Going through the process of the four quadrants yourself can be quite a revealing process, as long as you are honest with yourself - not always an easy thing to be, but maybe an interesting exercise for the weekend!
Julia Langford.
Headteacher