Noticing the things we’re grateful for can help all of us live a little better, and World Gratitude Day is a great place to start…
World Gratitude Day (21st September) is an ideal opportunity to support your students’ mental well-being – and yours, too!
Fortunately, you don’t need assemblies or special resources – just taking the time to practise saying “thank you” and noting the good things in your classroom or school environment is enough to make a difference and help students to train their focus towards appreciation.
Gratitude in PSHE and RSHE
Highlighting gratitude fits into the mental well-being part of the statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) and PSHE curriculum. The DfE’s updated RSHE guidance that is now in force requires secondary students to be able to talk about emotions, understand what supports happiness, and recognise the value of kindness and communities.
In lessons, quick gratitude activities can help students meet these goals by:
- building emotional vocabulary for feelings, such as “grateful”, “proud” and “relieved”.
- highlighting factors that support well-being – positive relationships, acts of kindness and feeling connected to others.
- creating regular opportunities to gauge how students are feeling and to seek support if needed.
The PSHE Association’s Programme of Study also places gratitude within the strands of Health and Wellbeing (managing emotions and practising positive thinking) and Relationships (learning to show respect and appreciation).
Start simple
On World Gratitude Day, you could start or end a lesson with a quick round of thanks, where students thank peers, a teacher or someone at home for something they have done. To start the ball rolling, you could model it by thanking students for their effort, kindness or helpfulness.
These things take no preparation but can really go a long way to creating a more positive and compassionate classroom environment.
Gratitude journals
For students who may appreciate a deeper activity, gratitude journalling is an evidence‑based way to regulate emotions and help get things in perspective. Research shows that writing about gratitude improves students’ ability to deal with negative emotions, while at the same time reducing feelings of anger, hurt or loneliness. Writing regular entries in a gratitude journal has been shown to create greater activity in the brain areas that are involved in emotional control. This can ease students out of being overwhelmed and help them to cope with situations more easily.
A few paragraphs are just as effective as an essay – and leaving it up to the individual how much they write is most effective, as it prompts a more natural response. You could consider short question prompts to get them started, such as: who supported you recently and how did that change your mood? What small things made today better and how did each one make you feel? What was your biggest challenge this week and what did you learn from how you handled it?
By journalling about how events make them feel, students can begin to use gratitude positively by noting what they have done in the past and using those actions as a tool to help them cope. This kind of activity aligns with RSHE mental wellbeing goals too.
Try it for yourself!
World Gratitude Day is a reminder that thanking others, noticing good things and sharing appreciation are things that everyone can do that make you – and other people – feel good!
