Corby school hoping to spread positivity with its 'Great Big Appreciation Week'

As an unusual first half-term draws to a close, Lodge Park Academy in Corby has launched its first ever ‘Great Big Appreciation Week.’

It is a week dedicated to encouraging deliberate acts of appreciation from staff and students.

Part of the David Ross Education Trust, Lodge Park Academy designed the week to remind the community that despite the setbacks and challenges of this year’s back-to-school routine, when you look around, opportunities for gratitude and appreciation are everywhere.

Principal Carly Waterman announced the initiative in her final virtual assembly of the half-term, where she praised the entire community for the incredible resilience everyone has shown in transitioning back to school after a five-month hiatus.

Pre-Covid, at Lodge Park Academy’s weekly school assemblies, Carly Waterman would ask if anyone had a message of appreciation, whether that be for someone in school or for a family member or friend outside of school.

This week, rather than offering just one message of appreciation, students and staff are being asked to engage in 50 acts of appreciation.

Everyone in school has received a worksheet with 50 boxes to fill out for every appreciation they give.

Even acts as seemingly small as thanking a teacher, a canteen worker, or a peer for opening a door, counts.

At the end of the week, students and staff will drop their sheets in a box located in the school reception, and over half-term a team from the school will pick out a completed sheet from someone in each year group who will fittingly win a box of Heroes.

Carly Waterman said: “We are so proud of all of our students and staff for how they have handled the transition back to school this year.

"This week is all about rewarding their resilience, and promoting the culture of respect, openness, generosity, and kindness that we have here at LPA.

"My first act of appreciation was a letter of thanks to our parents and carers, who are an integral part of our community and who support our students and our school wonderfully.

“We know that making others feel good makes us feel good, and this week will spread positivity, happiness, and boost the overall mental health of everyone in our community.

“This week is not just about offering 50 acts of appreciation to win a tasty prize and then never doing so again.

"It’s about deliberately practising gratitude to generate what I like to call ‘habits of the heart’ - habits that will make gratitude an integral part of everyday life for our community at LPA and beyond.”

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