Pupil Archie Garrigan, age 11, writes about the importance of kindness and reaching out to others.
An autistic boy called Connor was crying in the corner of the school playground in a school in Wichita, Kansas. A boy called Christian went up to Connor, took his hand, calmed him down and led him to the front door of the school where he waited for the bell to go and took him inside.
I have been inspired by Christian’s act of kindness to Connor, a boy that has autism, because it reminded me of a time when I was alone and sad and a boy came to help me.
I heard about the story in assembly on the first day of the new school year when Mr Barker asked all of us to be like Christian; kind, caring, supportive and compassionate. Christian’s act of kindness reminded me of something that happened to me here at Westbourne in Year 3. I was sitting down in the playground feeling sad and lonely because I didn’t have anyone to play with. Then, a boy called Charles said to me, “Want to come and play football?” and I said, “Yes.” and we’ve been best friends ever since. In fact, that day Charles was also feeling sad and lonely because he was new and like me, didn’t have anyone to play with. I was surprised by Charles’ confidence to come and talk to me and ask me to play with him but I’m really glad he did.
Remembering Charles being kind to me whilst reading this heart-warming story, I’m now going to try to do the same thing that Christian did to Connor and that Charles did to me. For example, there are new pupils who have started at Westbourne this year in my year and in my form. I remember how tough it is to be new because you know nobody so I want to help these new pupils settle in by not letting them be lonely at break and not letting them sit alone at lunch. I hope you are inspired by this story like I am and I hope you find time to be kind to someone each and every day.
It is important to not have a school where unkindness takes place because it teaches the pupils that being unkind is ok and that kindness isn’t important. At Westbourne we are taught that kindness is the most important thing to ensure all of us are happy. I am proud to be part of a school where everyone is happy because we are never far away from a “Christian”.
