Ms Potts, Headteacher at Brightwell cum Sotwell CofE Primary School, describes how Wallingford School got involved with their ‘Healthy Body, Healthy Mind Week’.

Brightwell cum Sotwell CofE Primary School certainly started the second half of the Autumn Term on an energetic note by holding a ‘Healthy Body, Healthy Mind Week’. The aim of the week was not only to remind the children how important it is to take care of themselves both physically and mentally, but also to give them opportunities to experience things they might not normally get a chance to do - experiences which perhaps pushed them outside of their comfort zones or maybe even helped them to find a hidden talent!

Over the course of the week, we put together an exciting timetable of events for all ages in the school, which included visits from external companies - archery workshops with Robin Hood Arrows; BMX and Scooter workshops with Mike Mullen and Terry Price; and cookery lessons with Roots to Food - but also allowed us to work in collaboration with our friends up at Wallingford School!

The Science department very kindly invited our Year 3 class to spend the afternoon in one of their amazing labs. The children were taught about the human digestive system before donning the safety googles (definitely a highlight for many children!) and being given the opportunity to carry out their own fantastic experiment using very special science equipment. It showed them what was in certain types of food they might eat – a particular favourite was testing the sugar water, which stunned our children when it magically changed through almost every colour of the rainbow once heated!

A little later in the week, we were thrilled to have the Art department, along with some of the Sixth Formers, spend the day with us. They worked on a whole school mindfulness project, with each class contributing to some giant murals that took inspiration from art based on the local area and our school values - the murals will eventually be hung up around the school. It really was wonderful to see the mixture of age ranges working together and we can’t wait to see the final results!

A huge thank you to our friends at Wallingford for helping to make the week so special for the children at Brightwell.