This session, Primary 3 have been involved in an exciting new initiative called Roots of Empathy. Throughout the year there have been weekly visits from the instructor Ailsa Dominic, Early Years & Family Support Worker and every three weeks a visit from a mother and baby, Kym and Harris Byron.
There have been nine key themes taught throughout the year.
Theme 1 – Meeting the Baby
Theme 2 – Crying
Theme 3 – Planning for a Baby
Theme 4 – Emotions
Theme 5 – Sleep
Theme 6 – Safety
Theme 7 – Communicating
Theme 8 – Who am I?
Theme 9 – Goodbye and Good Wishes

Each theme has a three week cycle. These take the form of a Pre-Family Visit with the instructor, a Family Visit with instructor and family, and a Post Family Visit with the instructor.
The children in Primary 3 have thoroughly enjoyed this experience. Their ability to discuss and share feelings and experiences has grown with every session. Every child has taken part in class discussions and encouraged to ask questions to better their understanding. The excitement can be felt in the classroom leading up to the next family visit. The children have become incredibly fond of Harris and are sad the sessions are coming to an end.
To mark the end of Roots of Empathy with this particular class, we organised a farewell celebration. During this celebration, Harris was presented with a beautiful book full of photographs from all Harris’ visits, photographs of the children in Primary 3 and the children’s good wishes for Harris. Harris was also given a present, which the children in Primary 3 had saved for and picked themselves. There was even some delicious cake to be had on the day! We invited parents into school on the day to share what we had been learning and to give them the opportunity to meet the baby they had been hearing so much about!