Secondary School - 3rd September 2018

Back to school with kindness

For children and adults alike, the summer has seemed long for some, short for others. After many weeks in the comfort of our own homes and familiar surroundings, some of us are excited at the new challenges ahead while others are intimidated by the new faces around them. Starting a new school year has its share of unsettling moments. All of us need to go through this transition and adapt again to our school routine. It is alright to acknowledge that some of us within our school community would have liked the summer holidays never to end, while others have been counting the days to return to school for a few weeks already. 

Today’s assembly was the first opportunity to gather as a Secondary School, with students from Years 7 to 12 and the entire team of teachers. As we welcomed new students and colleagues to our Secondary School, the objective of this morning’s assembly was to remind all of us to display kindness. It is the responsibility of each and every one of us to make our new school members feel welcome at NAISAK and make our school a happy place for all to enjoy and thrive. In line with our whole-school’s High Fives, our students linked kindness to the values of Showing Respect and Being Nice. The students watched an inspiring video that invited them to reflect on how kindness spreads and snowballs. Indeed, through the choice of one person making the effort to be kind to others, those others are in turn encouraged to be kind to more people. Students were reminded to choose to set the example and always aim for self-improvement. 

To support the students in their reflection and understanding of what kindness looks like, they were shown a few pictures of kindness in action. As such, they could contemplate a variety of concepts surrounding kindness. Students mentioned that kindness means helping others be a better version of themselves, accepting others’ perspectives and opinions, supporting friends during difficult times or cleaning after themselves so their learning environment in particular and the environment in general remain attractive. A Year 7 student shared the idea that tucking one’s chair in after a lesson shows kindness to the teacher and the other students as the next class enters and does not need to waste time getting the learning environment in order before starting the learning activities. As such, kindness ensures that all our students have an equal amount of learning time and achieve higher as a group. What a wonderful idea to start the day with! 

Who are you going to be kind to today?