1. Introduce as appropriate, and explain this assembly will be all about understanding our feelings and how we cope with them.

2. What kind of thing might you do if you’re feeling happy and things are going well?

3. When we feel happy, calm and in control, we tend to be good at keeping our bodies and minds happy and healthy too.
We find it easier to talk to people if something goes wrong, and feel more like eating healthily and being active to stay fit and well.

4. Put your hand up if you’ve seen inside out.
Can anyone explain what the theme of it is? (A film about a girl called Riley and her emotions)
It’s really important that we understand everyone has emotions. We all feel joy, fear, anger, disgust and sadness at some point – even your parents, teachers and friends do, and that’s ok. What we need to think about is how we can keep ourselves safe and healthy when these feelings seem like they’re too much to cope with.

5. Have a minute to think of some times when you have felt like something wasn’t fair, or when you were sad or angry.
I’m going to ask you to listen to a short story now and then I’m going to ask you some questions. I would like you to imagine a girl or boy who is around the same age as you. Think of a name for the child and imagine what they might look like. I’d like you to imagine that one day this child heard some sad news when they woke up about someone in their family. That same morning, as they were getting ready for school, something happened at home that seemed really unfair and they felt really angry about it.
What might that have been? Can you think of an example of something that’s happened that you felt wasn’t fair? How did you feel?
On the way to school, they heard on the news that something awful had happened and they worried about it all the way there. At school, their best friend wanted to play with someone else instead of them and they realised they’d left their homework on the kitchen table. In maths they got stuck and felt as though everybody else could do the work the teacher had given them.
Have a think about how these things would have made the child feel that day. What about over the next week? Often when we feel upset, angry or overwhelmed, we spend a lot of time thinking about the things that are making us feel that way. Because of this, it means that we don’t always look after ourselves as well as we should.

6. Things I can influence Things I can’t control but not control
Things I can control
Here are three different coloured circles. The red circle shows things we come across in life that we have no control over. The yellow circle shows things that we can make a small difference to, but can’t completely control. The green circle in the middle shows things that we can control, for example what foods we eat. Have a think about the story we just imagined.
Can you think of anything that could go in the red circle?
Can you think of anything that could go in the yellow circle?
Can you think of anything that could go in the green circle?
At times the things we’ve talked about can add together to stop you feeling happy, calm and in control.
This will sometimes happen in life and it’s totally normal, but that’s why it’s so important for us to know how to look after ourselves well during these times.

7. The things we talked about earlier that you enjoy doing can really help to take your mind off things that are difficult, but it’s also important not to just ignore them until they become so big they feel overwhelming.
Imagine the child in the story is the person you’re sitting next to.
How could you be a good friend to other people in case they ever feel like things are difficult? What might you do to help them?
It’s important that we have at least one person we can talk to no matter what, who we trust and who will listen. Sometimes just talking about things helps, and it also means other people can help us to spot when things are getting out of control so that they can support us.
There are other safe, healthy choices for if we want to spend some time alone, too.
Exercise, being creative or writing things down, listening to music or reading are all really good ways to help us cope. All of these things help us to look after our bodies or minds when things are hard. Different things work for different people and that’s okay. The most important thing is that you find which work for you so that you can look after yourself well when things seem really hard.

8. Some more ideas: paint, draw or scribble in red ink
hold an ice cube in your hand until it melts
write down your negative feelings then rip the paper up
listen to music
talk to friends or family
take a bath or shower
exercise
watch your favourite funny film
Read through the ideas above and discuss which people the children find it helpful to talk to. Is it different for different times/ situations?
There are always people in school who you can talk to if you are finding things difficult. There are also places to go online, or you can ring Childline on You don’t have to give your name and it’s a safe space where you are always listened to.
Some things are really important for everybody: feeling safe, eating properly, sleeping enough, and keeping active.
Part of growing up is working out what else we can do to help ourselves. Hopefully today will help you with some ideas about how to cope with tricky times in safe and healthy ways.