In February, the Airedale Hospital and Community Charity team attended an assembly at St Anne’s Primary School in Keighley to give a talk on the #AOKAiredale Acts of Kindness campaign and encourage the students to be kind to each other, to themselves, and at home.
Airedale Charity’s Acts of Kindness campaign was created to spread kindness and happiness within the local community, and teach people the value and importance of doing acts of kindness.
The charity team was invited to the assembly to begin the school’s ‘Health Week’, during which, children were taught about how to look after their health, including their mental health. The #AOKAiredale presentation focused on how being kind and doing acts of kindness is good for your mental health and overall wellbeing.
At the end of the assembly, the charity team introduced the concept of ‘kindness quilts’ and handed out worksheets on how to create a kindness quilt.
Later, in their separate classes, the students created their own kindness quilts by drawing around their hand on a piece of paper, and then writing on each finger how they will pledge to be kind and coloured in the drawing. All of the students’ drawings were then stapled together, creating a ‘kindness quilt’. Some of the words that came up most often were: polite, helpful, listen, share, grateful and friendship.
The charity team returned to the school a few weeks later on World Book Day and the students presented their fabulous kindness quilts in an assembly.
If your school would like to get involved in our AOK Airedale project, or would like a copy of the kindness quilt activity, please contact the team on anhsft.charity@nhs.net or 01535 294870.
Image 1: Pupils from St. Anne’s Primary School with the kindness quilts that they created
Image 2: Examples of the kindness quilts that pupils from St. Anne’s Primary School created
