Celebrating the Spiritual Side of Christmas, Spirituality day at Wylye Valley C of E Primary School, Codford, had a particularly festive feel to it.
Organised by Amanda Beeden (RE Subject Leader) the day started in a calm mood with teachers and children reflecting on the meaning of Advent and how the year’s events have shaped what we might hope for this Christmas. Unsurprisingly, many of the children hoped for ‘an end to Corona Virus and Lockdown’ and ‘to spend more time with family and friends.’
Throughout the day, activities were created by the teachers, including a truly immersive yoga session with Yoga-Therapy teacher Eleni Yeatman-Biggs, of Silence of Space, who came in especially for the whole day. Eleni told the story of the Wolf and the Stork – demonstrating various poses throughout the story which the children then copied. The children “enjoyed the games, mindfulness and breathing practices!” said Eleni, “The day seemed to be much enjoyed by all of them.”
Among activities was a special Christmas decoration making session where every pupil created a handmade decoration and, at the end of the day, four trees in the Nature Reserve were adorned with the decorations. They were set off by fairy lights put up at the beginning of the very frosty day by Amanda Beeden.
Each pupil also coloured in their own ‘Breathing Star’ and practised controlled and studied breathing – in through the nose and out through the mouth. This proved a good calming exercise and one the pupils can draw on at any time.
Franklin Class created a kind-thought inspired Advent Calendar where each child wrote down kind and motivational thoughts anonymously and then decorated a numbered envelope into which the ‘thoughts and words’ were randomly secreted. “Each day a child will be chosen to open an envelope and share the words with the class” said Lynn Paul (Franklin Class Teacher) adding, “I have been really quite moved by some of the kind ‘thoughts’ the children have come up with.”