SMILERS is a new initiative in partnership with Derby and Derbyshire Emotional Health and Wellbeing.  SMILERS gives children and adults a whole school approach to talk about wellbeing and how to look after our physical and emotional wellbeing.

Click here to watch the official SMILERS video

 

Spire Junior School SMILERS Activity Log:

Academic Year 2025/2026

Autumn term 1 – We looked at Interests for our first half term. Children had a discussion in assembly about what they were interested in doing in and out of school. We had a big discussion around which clubs they would be interested in launching in school as lunch or after school. 

October 2025 New SMILERS were selected based on showing their interest in the role. Some children were carefully selected from their teachers. The SMILERS completed their training with Yvonne Wright and were given great praise on being a 'lovely bunch of children with excellent manners'. 

Autumn term 2 - We looked at Look for our second half term. Children were encouraged to complete a moon diary and complete an Autumn nurture hunt around the area and in school. 

Tuesday 25th November Nurture and SMILERS visited Belvedere House for Christmas Craft activities with the residents.

Spring term 1 -  We looked at Eat Well for our third half term. Children were encouraged to bring in fruits or vegetables to eat the rainbow. For example, Red - strawberries, peppers, cherries, raspberries. 

SMILERS supported with World Book Day event focusing on Look and Move by hiding 200 laminated book covers around school for the six classes to find. 

Spring term 2 - We started our SMILERS tuck shop, selling items linked to moving, staying connected, interests, looking, eating well. It has been a great success, currently happening every three weeks and is raising money for the school. 

Summer term 1 - The SMILERS hosted a meeting on Wednesday 29th April to discuss our final two challenges for the school and how we could implement these. The focus for the final term (Summer 1 and 2) will be Rest and Support. Our SMILERS came up with multiple ways to offer Rest tips for their peers and have organised a timetable to witness supportive friends during playtime where children supporting and offering acts of kindness will receive certificates or stickers.

Wednesday 11th June - Tuck shop available for all and a free fruit stand. Listening to children's interests, offering fruit for eating well and supporting one another.

Wednesday 11th June - SMILERS first sponsored walk was an amazing success! The WHOLE SCHOOL participated - students, staff and parents. We had such an enjoyable afternoon walking to Queen's Park from school, around the park three times (stopping for a healthy snack provided by SMILERS funds raised from tuck shop) and continuing back to school. We completed 5km in total. 

Stay connected - we invited families to join us and spoke with locals in the park. We had the opportunity to talk with colleagues, families and friends as well as our students. Move - completed our wonderful 5km walk. Interest - around the walk we learnt lots of new things about our families and what their interests are as well as focusing on those that enjoy walking and talking. Look - we focused on what was in our local area and taking our time in nature. Eat well - SMILERS tuck shop funds allowed the children to have a healthy snack each around the 4km mark. Rest - we had a little rest at the end of each 1km as well as a little rest to enjoy our snack at the 4km mark, plus we know everyone would have had a good rest at the end. Support - it was amazing to see the children cheering each other on as well as recognising their achievements!

Academic Year 2024/2025

W/c 4th October: SMILERS applications opened.

Friday 18th October: Initial meeting to discuss the role.

Friday 8th November: A group meeting to decide which theme we were going to focus on this term. It was decided that we would focus on Stay Connected! We suggested visiting a local residential home (Belvedere House) to share some positivity and kindness. 

Friday 15th November: Card and poster-making session ahead of our trip to Belvedere House.

Tuesday 3rd December: Went to Belvedere House to stay connected with our local elderly community.

Tuesday 4th February: The SMILERS team ran an assembly for the whole school discussing their roles around school.

Tuesday 29th April: A group meeting took place to discuss the new theme for the last term. We are now focusing on Move. We have managed to encourage staff to get on board as well as the children and they are virtually walking/running from Land's End to John O'Groats as a team. The SMILERS came up with multiple ideas, including: Wake up Wednesdays, 4th June move a mile for NSPCC, challenge one-minute stations to earn bronze, silver or gold, an obstacle course for Move it Mondays and team games. Everyone was very positive and have begun creating posters for our new area which they met to start on Wednesday 30th April.

Summer Term 2025 Children completed weekly challenges with Mr Thomas at lunch time and received gold, silver and bronze certificates based on their achievements. Many continued with the challenge throughout the week and even managed to better themselves.