1. Introduce as appropriate, and explain this assembly will help us to understand what’s happening when we feel worried.

2. What would you do if you suddenly felt that you were in danger, like the person in the picture? (Ask a few children)
Most people would either fight, run away, or stay very still.
Just then you had a think about what you’d do, but if you were really in this situation, your body would respond before you even had time to think. It’s called fight, flight (to run away) or freeze. It gets your body ready to react so you can defend yourself in the best way possible, and happens when your brain thinks something bad might be about to happen.

3. Imagine something that really scares you
Imagine something that really scares you. Everybody is afraid of something – even if they pretend they’re not! Your friends are, your teachers are, and even your parents are. Imagine you’re in the situation that you find really scary. What does your body do? Does your heart start to beat faster? Do your hands get a bit sweaty? Do you suddenly feel very awake? Your brain tells your body to do all of these things (and more!) because it wants to protect you and make sure that you could run away, fight, or freeze if you needed to. All of these things happen before you can actually think about it and decide what would be the best thing to do. It’s completely normal - it’s our bodies’ way of keeping us safe by being aware of things that might be dangerous.

4. So we know things that really are dangerous (like standing on the edge of a cliff or teasing a poisonous snake) would make us feel anxious, and this would be helpful to keep us safe.
Sometimes your brain tells your body to react in the same way for things that aren’t dangerous, but where we still worry about what might happen. Often we know which things make us feel worried – for example if somebody we know is poorly, if we forget to do our homework, or if we have to take a test. Can anyone think of other things that make them feel worried?
For times like this, our brains send the ‘fight, flight or freeze’ message to our bodies, even though you wouldn’t actually need to fight, run away or freeze! However, it is helpful sometimes because it means we are alert and aware of what’s around us, so for example we might be really ‘switched on’ for a test and try our best because we feel a bit nervous.

5. At times our brains can get it wrong, and it sends these signals out too often. We end up worrying about things that we can’t control, worrying about things more than we need to, or feeling like things are much worse than they are.
It’s a little bit like a bucket of water. If we keep adding worries to the bucket (even tiny ones), over time it fills up until one day it overflows.
What we need is a leaky bucket with lots of holes in to let some of the worries go. Each one of these holes could be something positive that you do to help keep your body and mind healthy and happy, such as sports, reading, arts and crafts, listening to music or spending time with friends or family.
Sometimes talking to somebody is the best thing you can do – it can feel better just to have shared your worry with someone, and they can often help you think through what’s making you feel that way and help you to find ways to cope with it in a safe way.

6. Anxiety can make you: not want to try new things
worry too much about things
have "butterflies" in your tummy
have headaches
have a pounding heartbeat
feel sick
sweat more
not feel hungry
So anxiety can be helpful when we face new or stressful situations. It’s a completely normal feeling, and everybody has it sometimes.
What we need to do is begin to learn what it is that makes us feel anxious and begin to be able to spot it happening. Then we can find ways to deal with it that keep our minds and bodies safe and healthy.
Part of growing up is working out how to look after ourselves – both our bodies and our minds. Hopefully today will help you begin to understand why sometimes we feel anxious and how we can help ourselves when we do.
There are always people in school who you can talk to if you are feeling anxious. There are also places to go online, or you can ring Childline on You don’t have to give your name and it’s a safe space where you are always listened to.