Perseverance leads to Happiness

Happy New Year to one and all!  It is a joy to be back at school with our pupils and staff. The cold, crisp, blue skies of recent mornings have been such an invigorating start to this new term.

In the first assembly of this term our new school value of ‘Perseverance’ was introduced to the children along with the Action for Happiness calendar for January (feel free to download).  

We are encouraging everyone to focus on small steps to try to boost happiness - for ourselves and others around us - to spread kindness and hopefully inspire others to do the same. Some days this may not be as easy as it sounds and perseverance is required. It is often easy to feel frustrated when we are challenged by something or someone, easy to give up, walk away or even respond in a negative way. However, if we can all nurture the quality that allows someone to continue trying to do something even though it is difficult, by persevering it can often lead to ‘happiness’. Happiness is an emotional state characterised by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfilment. While happiness has many different definitions, it is often described as involving positive emotions and life satisfaction. Happiness is generally linked to experiencing more positive feelings than negative.

To help us all become more aware of our happiness the children have been challenged to create their own ‘Happiness Jars’. A happiness jar is quite simply a container in which you put a daily or weekly note of gratitude. On a piece of paper, write down one good thing that has happened or one thing you are grateful for that day, fold it up and pop it into the jar. My empty ‘Percy Pig’ jar has made a superb ‘happiness jar’ and I have already popped my first gratitude note for what made me happy in my jar. As I explained to the children in assembly, I will choose when I need to dip into my happiness jar to reflect on my happy moments to savour the gratitude and joy I experienced. It may be that I choose to do this regularly or wait until the end of the year to reflect upon my happy moments of 2022. We can choose when we may need to be boosted and reminded of the good things in our lives.

I wish you all a very ‘Happy’ start to 2022 and good health as we take steps into the next phase of our turbulent journey through this pandemic time we are living in. Let us take time each day to be grateful for our families, friends and each other. 

Mrs. Drummond