Empathy Week is an invitation for young people across the world to put empathy into action, developing the skills of leadership and resilience along the way.
We’re excited to be joining in with Empathy Week - a global annual education programme that uses the power of film to inspire, engage and empower young people into empathetic action. Ensuring every child has the opportunity to become a conscious and empathic leader - leaving school as part of the Empathy Generation. The aim to create a better world with people who show empathy and understanding.
Ryburn students are already known for your kindness, so we think you’ll get a lot out of this.
What’s happening in Empathy Week at Ryburn?
We’ll be sharing a video assembly including a film each day, exploring empathy, and this year’s themes of resilience and diversity. These will be added to this post, and also emailed to you each morning.
Please watch each assembly and spend a few minutes reflecting on the people’s stories within them, using the pages in the workbook.
Please note - some of the themes in the films are quite challenging. We’ve provided warnings about key triggers within the videos, and encourage parents and carers to use your judgement on their suitability for your child, and to discuss the topics shown.
Monday - Being unique and accepting yourself
Tuesday - Education and opportunity
Wednesday - Love and Grief
Thursday - Racism and Identity
Friday - Life in War and Leaving Home
Your turn
After watching each assembly, spend a few minutes reflecting on your feelings and reactions to the film. You can use the prompts in the workbook. Print it out if you wish, but it’s just as good to write your thoughts in a notebook or on paper.
If you feel really inspired by any of the stories and would like to take action to make a difference, a great place to start would be by speaking to your student council reps.
Help and support
It's completely normal to feel strong emotions to a film that resonates with you because of the themes in it. Please, if you can and feel safe to, speak to a teacher, parent or a trusted adult about how you are feeling.
You can also find support and resources via the links below.