Empathy at Sara Village School

Empathy is our ability to understand and share someone else’s thoughts feelings and perspectives. It is made up of three important elements: feeling, thinking and acting.

Feeling: when we understand that someone is having thoughts or feelings that may, or may not, be different to something that we have previously experienced.

Thinking: when we are able to use previous knowledge and experiences to gain an insight into how that person may be feeling now.

Acting: when we use our understanding of the other person's thoughts or feelings to help, support or guide that person.

Sara Village School is a small primary school based in Saudi Arabia. We have a very diverse but transient community which means that our student population is regularly changing. We have been working on strengthening and developing the empathy skills of our students in a number of different ways.

We hope you enjoy looking at the incredible work that our students have created over the last few months.

Empathy in Reading at Sara Village School

Displaying empathy is about showing that we have a real understanding of others and their thoughts, feelings and opinions; even if they are different from our own. All of our Sara Village School students have been exploring a number of different story books that have helped to develop our empathetic skills and to ultimately put ourselves in another's shoes! We have had a number of interesting discussions over the past few weeks based around these books and what lessons they can teach us about the way that we treat and look out for others.

Ellie - My favourite book was Elmer. This story is about an elephant who wants to fit in, and he does this by changing his style and skin colour by rolling in berries so that he is the same colour as all the other elephants. Although Elmer felt happy when he was the same, he didn’t really feel like himself, so he was happier when his skin started to return to its normal colourful self. This story has taught me to always be yourself and not to be like anyone else. It has also taught me to support everyone who is different to you because it is kind.

Fatima - I love ‘Giraffes Can’t Dance’. This story is about a Giraffe who went to a Jungle Dance. He was a bit nervous about going because he didn’t know how to dance. When he got on the dancefloor he found that all the other animals were brilliant dancers and they laughed at Gerald and his wobbly legs. This made Gerald feel nervous and sad. However, one of his friends encouraged him to carry on dancing to a different tune. All the other animals heard the music and saw Gerald’s fabulous dancing and they loved it. This story has taught me that you should never judge a person until you have walked in their shoes. You should always be kind and friendly to others.

Hermione - ‘Giraffes Can’t Dance’ is a great book about a giraffe that feels like he can’t dance when he goes to the Jungle Ball. Every animal at the dance laughed and pointed at him. This made Gerald the Giraffe feel very, very sad, so he went home. On the way home he saw a cricket that told him that “everyone can dance, you just need to find the right music”. The cricket then got out his violin and started playing and Gerald then did the most amazing thing: he danced! It was so amazing that all the animals came to see and he danced and danced and danced with glee. This story has taught me that you should always encourage your friends when they can’t do something that everybody else can, and you should always use kind words.

Dillon - I really enjoyed Dogger because it was about a boy named Dave who took his dog teddy everywhere. Dave would take him to the bath, to bed, and outside. But one day he lost Dogger. Dave was very sad that he looked everywhere. His family noticed how sad he was so they tried to find another teddy that he would like. But Dave just didn't like them, they just weren't like dogger. But one day they went to a school because there was a fancy dress party with a lot of prizes. His sister Bella won a huge teddy bear. Then Dave spotted a dogger at a teddy sale. But he was too late because someone had already bought one. Dave tried to tell her that it was his but she wouldn't listen but then his sister Bella gave the girl her big teddy bear just so her brother could be happy and be reunited with Dogger again.

Ashwaq - I really enjoyed the story ‘The Go-Away Bird’. This story is about a bird who is a little bit grumpy and wants to be alone and so he tells all of his friends to “go away!” His friends are not happy about this and it makes them feel unloved, however they still try to include him in their fun. At the end of the story, a bigger bird wants to attack the Go Away Bird, but his friends help him to chase the bigger bird away. This makes the Go Away bird feel happy and loved and also a little bit guilty about being so unkind to his friends. This story teaches us how we should treat each other with kindness, and to help those in need. It also teaches us to be more aware of how our words and actions might affect others. For example, if we use unkind words to someone, then these words could make them feel sad. We should always try to use kind words to make others feel happy.