Kate joins primary school pupils to promote Children’s Mental Health Week

The Princess of Wales urged a group of youngsters to “keep talking about your feelings” when she marked the start of Children’s Mental Health Week by joining them for a craft lesson.

Kate made paper chains with pupils from a primary school in London’s East End and chatted with them about how they cope with their feelings in a video released as the awareness week began.

One little boy from St John’s Church of England Primary School in Bethnal Green told the future Queen “connecting releases our emotions to other people that we care about”.

While a classmate said to Kate: “I take deep breaths in, then I drink a glass of water” when the princess asked how they coped with strong feelings.

Kate is the royal patron of the children’s mental health charity Place2Be that founded the annual Children’s Mental Health Week, which this year has the theme Let’s Connect, encouraging youngsters to make meaningful connections with others to support their mental wellbeing.

At the end of the session, the princess said: “Well, thank you for having a chat with me today.

“And keep talking about your feelings and keep asking others how they’re doing and helping them to talk about their feelings as well.

“I’m a firm believer in giving children the skills that they need for life and focusing on their social and emotional development.”

Place2Be’s chief executive, Catherine Roche, said in the video: “Children’s Mental Health Week was founded by Place2Be in 2015 and the aim is to build awareness and understanding of children and young people’s mental health.

“All week, schools, families, youth groups will be getting involved and taking part. People thrive in communities and when we have really good positive connections with others, that’s really, really good for our emotional health and well being.”

Last week, Kate launched her Shaping Us campaign, an ambitious project described as her “life’s work” and aimed at raising the profile of the early years development of children.