Finding Your Voice

Children's Mental Health Week will be taking place from 5 - 9 February and the theme this year is 'My Voice Matters'. Our assemblies this week focused on the importance of using our voices for good, and the difference this can make to our own mental health and the world around us, and linked to our Character Pillars of Compassion, Resilience and Civility.

Students in all year groups were shown how the choreographer Ashley Banjo used his voice to stand up against racism following the death of George Floyd. His dance troop, Diversity, performed a routine during the 2020 semi-final of Britain's Got Talent which was inspired by the incident. A Black Lives Matter theme ran through the performance which also featured the words of Tomfoolery’s  poem “The Great Realisation" and the powerful piece culminated with the dancers taking the knee to the words Black, Lives, Matter. There were over 27,000 complaints following the performance, however Ofcom released a statement saying, 'Diversity's performance was an artistic expression of topical social issues and did not contain any content which was racist, unsuitably violent or otherwise inappropriate in the context of this programme'. Ashley's choreography created debate around an important subject and he used his dancing as his voice.

The school's Designated Safeguarding Lead, Ms Rowthorn, explained to students that there are a number of ways that they can communicate their thoughts and feelings within our school, and that Charters is keen to understand what its students need to protect their mental health. From being part of the Student Council and completing the pulse surveys which are regularly sent to students, our young people are encouraged to share their thoughts and feelings with staff. 

Watch the 'My Voice Matters' film that was created to compliment Children's Mental Health Week 2024 below: