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Primary School Children Get Help From Well Known TV Personality
In early October, every primary school in the UK will be sent a special version of the book ‘Sadsville’, donated, totally free of charge, by The Martin Roberts Foundation (martinrobertsfoundation.org.uk), the charity of Martin Roberts from BBC TV’s Homes under the Hammer.
Sadsville, is part of Martin’s ‘The Villes’ (www.thevilles.com) illustrated children’s book series, and follows the hero, Herman, as he travels on a magical red bus to Sadsville. Helped by his new friend Sandy, they discover why people are sad, and before long everyone has a smile back on their faces again.
The story promotes the art of problem solving, opens up discussions about emotions and mental wellbeing and signposts ways for children to seek appropriate help, should they need it.
Schools will receive a special version of the book, including supporting teaching materials – available free from the charity website and www.sadsville.co.uk, such as a lesson plan and assembly guide, alongside links to other resources including a PowerPoint presentation, a link to the Sadsville video, narrated by Basil Brush and free access to the Sadsville story on both the charities own website and www.fonetti.com.
The project supports the NSPCC (www.nspcc.org.uk) and their Childline service (www.childline.org.uk), and Fonetti, the digital listening bookshop powered by Auris Tech (www.auris.tech) who have created an interactive digital read-along version of the book, which is available free of charge on www.fonetti.com.
Says Martin, “It has never been more important to help our young children to understand, cope with and, find help if needed, when experiencing mental health problems.
“30,000 copies of the original Sadsville book have already been distributed and we have had some wonderful responses from Head Teachers and children from schools who have already received books. Over 70% of those children responding to a post distribution survey said they felt ‘Better able to cope with sadness’ as a result of reading the story.
“I hope that by using Sadsville and the accompanying resources, teachers within primary schools will be better equipped to help children understand and talk about their emotions and make them aware that help is at hand via Childline and the NSPCC.”
Martin introduces his book himself at https://youtu.be/uaCNsKyCxBw