7 minute read
Horniman Museum
from SE23 September 2020
by SE Magazines
www.horniman.ac.uk | 100 London Road, SE23 3PQ
Exhibitions & Displays Permian Monsters: Life Before the Dinosaurs Extended to 3 January 2021
Image courtesy ©Gondwana Studios
252 million years ago, in a period called the Permian, life on Earth was dominated by extraordinary creatures. It was a time of fearsome sabre-toothed predators, giant insects and bizarre-looking sharks. The Permian ended with a mass extinction that destroyed 90% of all life, paving the way for the Earth's next great rulers… the dinosaurs. In this fascinating, family-friendly exhibition, which is travelling to the UK for the first time, you can discover more about this mysterious time period. On display will be fossil skeletons as well as full-size models and animatronics that bring the Permian back to life.
Tickets*: Child £5, Adult £9, Family (up to two adults and two children) £20. Horniman Members and Benefactors enjoy free, unlimited entry. *Prices include a voluntary Gift Aid donation which helps support the work of the Horniman.
Permian Monsters: Life Before the Dinosaurs is a travelling exhibition produced by Gondwana Studios. See horniman.ac.uk for more information and to book tickets.
Turn It Up: On Paradoxes Extended until 4 October 2020
Jide Odukoya's photographic series shows a contrasting Nigeria through the lens of traditional weddings, highlighting how moments of extravagant celebration are an important part of Nigerian cultural identity because of the fragile wealth that supports it. FREE – included in pre
booked, free museum visit, horniman.ac.uk Family: Plonk Golf Daily, 11am to 5.30pm
Grab a (sanitised) golf club and test your wits against a socially-distanced course featuring bonkers ball runs, loop-the-loops, heroic hills, balancing-beams, and some Horniman-themed specials. And for those who have fallen in love with the epic Horniman Walrus, meet Plonk's very own Gerald the Crazy Golf Walrus. Tickets: Child
£4, Adult £6, Family (two adults and two children, or one adult and three children) £16. Book in advance on Plonk's website or pay on the day (card payments only). Green Turtle Until May 2021
A magnificent taxidermy mount of a male Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas, on loan from the Natural History Museum is on display in the Natural History Gallery. Over 100 years old, this impressive animal was collected off the coast of Nicaragua in Central America and presented to the Natural History Museum in 1906. This small display will showcase the challenges facing Green Turtles and other marine life today and what we can do to protect it.
FREE – included in pre-booked, free museum visit, book at horniman.ac.uk Grasslands Garden Open year round
Wander through wild landscapes in the Grasslands Garden, featuring spectacular plants from North American prairie and South African grasslands. Celebrating critically threatened wild landscapes, during the winter months visitors will be able to see beautiful architectural seed head heads and fading flower spikes. Linked to the World Gallery, the naturalistic planting scheme was devised by Olympic Park designer James Hitchmough. FREE -
no pre-booking required. Horniman Market Every Sunday, 10am–3pm
Open every Sunday to pick-up your weekly essentials including fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese, bread and meat, direct from independent and local producers. Follow @HornimanMarket or visit horniman.ac.uk. FREE entry, no pre-booking
required. CARD PAYMENTS ONLY.
Mindset Matters
With Becca Teers | www.healthy-habits.me | www.mindplus-experience.com
With all the uncertainty at the moment it’s important that we have ways to keep us positive. Self-care is something that we can all do for ourselves to take care of our mental health & keep us as calm & happy as possible. Here are two of my favourite effective, yet simple self-care tools to use daily to keep positive.
Gratitude
Practicing feeling grateful for what you have puts the focus on the positive things in your life, rather than what you don’t have or are lacking. We know that what we focus on we get more of as like attracts like. So, to get more of what you want in your life, you have to focus on the good things you already have and be thankful for them. This will attract more similar good things to you by training your mind to notice the good stuff around you. Each day think of between 5 and 10 things that you are grateful for and record them in a notebook, which you can label your Gratitude Diary. Stuff you are grateful for can be anything you choose big or small; the people in your life, a compliment from a friend, your morning coffee, a favourite pair of jeans, a walk in the park, or something to appreciate in nature, such as a lovely sunset, a beautiful flower, or even the smell of fresh basil or mint from your herb garden or fridge.
A Photo Every Day
Hailey Bartholomew learnt from a life coach (who also just happens to be a nun!!) that the secret to happiness is reflection and gratitude. Hailey overcame her own feelings of depression when she started appreciating the small and large aspects of her life that she was grateful for. She created the 365 Project in which she took a photo every day of something she was truly thankful for. Check out her inspiring story and the beautiful photos at
www.365grateful.com. Music
There’s no doubt that music can alter our mood, just like that, quickly and easily. Have you ever heard a song on the radio that instantly takes you back to a past time, event, or person?
Photo by William Recinos on Unsplash
Music is such a powerful tool for changing our mindset. It happens automatically, so why not use music purposefully to uplift your mood? You can combine listening to your favourite, energising and mood-enhancing music with one of your daily activities. Listen to your favourite tunes whilst exercising, getting ready for your day, eating your breakfast, or whilst travelling to and from work. You could create playlists for different purposes, maybe one to energise you when you’re feeling a little jaded, one to calm you for when you’re feeling wired, and another to lift you up when you’re feeling down. Music has the effect of changing and enhancing your moods, and this tool can be harnessed and used within the day to put you in a great mood when you need to be at your best.
Back to school: coping with the new normal
Dr Elyse Waites, Deputy Head Pastoral, discusses how to support your child’s return to school. A new academic year is always a little daunting, but September 2020 is likely to bring a host of different anxieties. While there have undoubtedly been benefits to increased family time, children need to reintegrate with their peers and re-socialise themselves before they go back into the school environment. During lockdown, your child's friendships may have become strained or deteriorated. To combat this, allow children the time to meet friends in small groups face to face to slowly build up their confidence and widen their social sphere again. Online socialising may be a bigger part of your child’s life these days but nothing can replace the interpersonal connections forged in face to face interactions. Many young people have experienced fear and loss recently. All schools will be required to teach mental wellbeing as part of the PSHE curriculum from September 2020 but it is important that you encourage speaking to friends and teachers about what they have been through or access school counselling. Aside from screen time for online lessons or keeping in touch with friends and family, there may have also been a more ‘relaxed’ approach to online entertainment from parents desperate to get their own work done. Online teaching provides a varied and accessible curriculum and the number of educational apps and websites has surged
enormously worldwide, with estimates tripling the worth of the Edtech market by 2025. Despite legitimate reasons for your children to spend more time online, the increased risks that come with this are not to be ignored. Speak openly and honestly to your children about internet safety. Sites such as Childnet, Netaware, Internet Matters and Think U Know have very useful resources to help you do this. When your child returns to school, it will not be to the ‘normal’ timetable and routine. Classes may be relocated, movement restricted and teachers may be changed. Lunches may be staggered, assemblies may not happen and sports fixtures and school trips are likely to be cancelled. I recommend sitting down with your children and speaking about this frankly and honestly. It is not a permanent change, but it is certainly an important one. Managing the disappointment and potential anger at the injustice of a missed residential or sports tournament is something that would be good to get out of the way before September so that the return to school won’t be more difficult than it needs to be. Remember to have regular open and honest conversations. Children take their emotional cues from adults so it is important you remain calm, listen to their concerns and reassure them. Discover more about Sydenham High School this autumn.
