Time to be heard

If your child is on the Walk and Talk programme, he or she will be teamed up with a trained staff member, like a mentor or buddy. Each week the staff member will contact your child to see how they are doing.

It might be a little walk around the playground or chatting over a hot chocolate after lunch. The activity doesn’t matter too much; it’s the chance for your child to air worries and be listened to on a one-to-one basis that is invaluable. They say that one of the greatest gifts you can give a child is time. This regular gift of a voice, and the space and time to be heard, benefits your child’s self-esteem and sense of belonging as well as his or her emotional and social literacy.

As with Flourish and Fly, your child can ask to join Walk and Talk or be referred by you or a teacher. Approximately a fifth of children in the school are enrolled in the programme at any time. Everyone needs a little boost now and again.