It’s a right Royal Celebration as we start the month of June, full of events and awareness days that you can use to inspire creativity and empathy in your schools.
The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
This historic event takes place from the 2nd- 5th June and whilst many schools will be on half term, there’s still lots you can do before and after to celebrate! Events will be taking place up and down the country and you can find out more about what’s happening and ideas to inspire you here https://platinumjubilee.gov.uk/.
Pride Month
Taking place across the world throughout June, Pride Month is dedicated to celebrating LGBTQ+ communities. This years marks 50 years of Pride, the anniversary of the first Pride event in the UK. Encourage children to learn more about acceptance and equality through reading titles from our brilliant LGBTQIA+ book list.
Empathy Day
On Thursday the 9th of June children and teachers everywhere will be celebrating Empathy Day. Now in its fifth year and bigger than ever, this important event, founded by EmpathyLab, seeks to encourage children to develop empathy skills through reading. A whole host of amazing authors and illustrators are helping mark the occasion, and you can find brilliant resources and book lists right here on Puffin Schools to help you join in. And don't forget to check out the Read for Empathy Collections from EmpathyLab too.
Father’s Day
The annual celebration of Dad’s all over the country is on 19th June, the perfect opportunity for children to thank their parents or carers. Discover some great Dads in the brilliant book The Last Firefox by Lee Newbery which comes with supporting resources full of activities to inspire imaginations (also available in Welsh).
Refugee Week
Taking place on 20th-26th June to coincide with World Refugee Day on 20th June, Refugee Week is a UK-wide festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. Especially poignant this year as people start to arrive from Ukraine, schools can find out more and get involved here.
Windrush Day
The 22nd June is Windrush Day, the annual celebration of the Windrush generation, marking the contribution they and their descendants have made to British society. On 22 June 1948, Caribbean migrants arrived in the UK on the SS Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks in Essex, their first stop before travelling towards London. Help your class understand what it’s all about with this fantastic resource pack from author Nathan Byron.
National Writing Day
Celebrating the power of creative writing, National Writing Day on 23rd June inspires everyone to get writing! Led by First Story, it’s a brilliant opportunity to encourage writing for pleasure, and you can use our resources to help. With writing prompts inspired by books from favourite authors like Jacqueline Wilson and Jeff Kinney, to inspiration from newcomers like Sharna Jackson and Struan Murray, we’ve got it covered. Time to pick up that pen and get creative!
Whatever you are doing to celebrate stories in your school this month we’d love to hear about it! Please contact [email protected] with 'Inspiring Ideas' in the subject line.