Southdown Primary School is in the midst of a campaign to promote kindness within its walls and on its fields and playgrounds. It’s an ongoing effort to teach children what being kind means and how good it makes both the giver and recipient feel. How simple acts can really change the world.
The dictionary defines the noun “kindness” as the “quality of being friendly, generous and considerate.” Well, it is all those things at Southdown and so much more.
There are daily reminders and lots of opportunities to drive home the point and practice kindness in a variety of situations. Like their predecessors over the past 65 years since Southdown was carved out of a former Gold Coast estate, today’s students are always ready to give whatever task is at hand their best effort.
This past December saw the entire month dedicated to promoting kindness. Southdown’s PTA purchased copies of “Try a Little Kindness” by Henry Cole and there were special read-aloud periods in each classroom.
December really jump-started the kindness campaign that will continue to run through June. Students were given leaves and asked to write acts of kindness on those leaves and post them on the kindness tree in the main hallway.
“There is a buddy bench that was given to Southdown by our PTA several years ago,” Principal Scott Oshrin said. “The concept of the buddy bench was discussed at our November Splash assembly.”
The Southdown PTA purchased rocks for students to paint and decorate in their own special way. “These rocks have been spread outside the school to help spread kindness to all that pass by,” Mr. Oshrin said. Some of the rocks have made their way to off-campus sites, but they can be traced back to the school since painted on the back of them is the hashtag “#southdownrocks.”