An example of practice: Ormiston Six Villages Academy

Ormiston Six Villages Academy is a secondary school in a partly rural area of Arun, West Sussex. The school has about 690 pupils aged 11 to 16. It has fewer pupils with Education, Health and Care Plans than average, but more pupils who receive special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support.

Lou May is the Director of Learning for Year 10 and a maths teacher. As part of her Master’s course at the University of Chichester, Lou studied how to overcome negative thinking. This work led her to try gratitude diaries with one of her classes. The class included a group of girls who staff had noticed often had negative thought patterns.

Early feedback from this work showed that these pupils began to think in a more positive way and looked more confidently towards the future.

Research shows a clear link between gratitude and emotional wellbeing. A study by Cripps in 2019 found that pupils who kept a gratitude diary felt better than those who only wrote about daily events. Pupils who used gratitude diaries felt less anxious and more like they belonged at school.

One of West Sussex’s Educational Psychologists, Dr Jess Millington, also studied gratitude in schools. Her research showed that when pupils practised gratitude regularly, their mood improved and they felt a stronger sense of belonging at school.

Lou continued to develop the gratitude work at OSVA. She introduced the idea of gratitude as a way to support wellbeing to all pupils during assemblies. She also showed pupils how to use simple gratitude diaries.

The diaries were easy to use and included 3 short prompts:

• today was a good day because...
• 3 things I am proud of today...
• the person who made me feel good today was...

Lou explained that pupils did not need to talk about how they used the diaries. When pupils asked for a diary, staff only asked 1 question, which was which design they preferred.

Staff have noticed that pupils who use the diaries show a more positive way of thinking. This links to research that shows focusing on positive experiences helps improve wellbeing over time.

The school plans to keep using the gratitude journals in a simple way. Pupils can choose for themselves whether they want to use them. The school wants to keep the process easy and avoid adding extra steps.

In the future, the school may also explore using gratitude diaries with staff. Research shows that adults can also benefit from gratitude activities in similar ways.

If your school is interested in exploring gratitude interventions, we advise:

• don’t over-complicate it, simple is better
• pupils do not need to share the experiences they are grateful for to make the intervention effective
• introducing the activity in assemblies raises awareness of the importance of positive emotions building

For a copy of the gratitude journals created by Lou, email lmy@ormistonsixvillages.org.uk.