Featured News
Claire Murdoch National Director for Mental Health for NHS England visits HBJS
On Monday 9th September, Herne Bay Junior School welcomed Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s Mental Health Director, to the school.
She was accompanied by Kathryn Pugh, Deputy Head of Mental Health, Children and Young People’s Mental Health Programme Lead.
Claire and Kathryn learnt about our journey to achieving Silver status through the Carnegie Centre of Excellence Mental Health in Schools Award, as well as the approaches and resources we use in school to promote positive well-being for all.
Our next step of the journey is to achieve the Gold standard over the next year. This will entail us continuing our commitment to mental health in school by endeavouring to “go the extra mile” to meet the needs of all and also extending links to other schools and services.
Claire was inspired by the work we have done to support our children. She commented on ‘our vision, practical action and passion to equip our young to talk about MH, look after themselves and others’.
Claire delivered an assembly to the children in Years 3, 5 & 6 during the afternoon which she described as a privilege.
BBC South East filmed throughout the day with Rowena Evett-Collins, Deputy Headteacher and Hollie Edwards, Director of Mental Health and Wellbeing.
Our pupils proudly spoke with confidence and demonstrated a range of the activities we have on offer for all to support mental health and wellbeing.
Plese click here to view the BBC report.
A visit from Professor Robert Winston
We were privileged to welcome Professor Robert Winston to our school on Tuesday. He made the journey from London to educate and inspire our children about his favourite topic – SCIENCE!
He delivered an assembly to both upper and lower school. The children were mesmerised and listened intently to him as he spoke about the most popular science questions posed to him by children around the world. They were fortunate to take part in a mini experiment relating to DNA which involved releasing particles through merely clapping. Throughout, his humour shone through as he shared his wisdom while engaging the children in popular topics ranging from the solar system to human reproduction.
Question time gave the children the opportunity to find out more about him and his life. He shared that prior to becoming a scientist in 1970; he had worked as a caretaker in a school and spent time in theatre amongst other things. 50 years later, here he is at Herne Bay Junior School advising our children to study things that interest them and to work as part of a team. He told them, “it is OK to fail; failure can lead to success” – as he has discovered many times throughout his career.
Professor Winston then visited classrooms where Science lessons were in action. He enjoyed watching some Year 4 children investigate insulators and conductors to create electricity, before moving on to Year 5 where children were developing their understanding of puberty while debating their views on how this may affect them both socially and emotionally.
P4C - philosophical discussions and new friendships!
Members of the School Council welcomed a group of 14 children from Christ Church Primary School, Folkestone to participate in an interschool philosophical (P4C) debate.
The children started the morning with some drama games - getting to know each others names. They then watched a video (see attached website https://vimeo.com/198309592) that suggested children should become teachers and teachers should become children! The debate that followed was full of reasoned arguments for and against!