{"id":470615,"date":"2026-02-12T17:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T17:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/470615\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T17:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T17:38:16","slug":"princess-of-wales-delights-youngsters-on-a-surprise-visit-to-a-london-school-to-mark-childrens-mental-health-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/470615\/","title":{"rendered":"Princess of Wales delights youngsters on a surprise visit to a London school to mark Children’s Mental Health Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Princess of Wales<\/a> joined flag-waving young children making ‘belonging maps’ at a primary school to highlight the importance of children’s mental health.<\/p>\n

Catherine visited Castle Hill Academy in New Addington, Croydon, on Thursday to mark Children’s Mental Health Week in her role as patron of the charity Place2Be.<\/p>\n

She chatted to the youngsters about the importance of expressing their emotions, asking what made them feel good and safe.<\/p>\n

‘Do you like to talk about your feelings, your sense of belonging?’ she asked, adding: ‘Sometimes it’s hard to talk about your thoughts and feelings.’<\/p>\n

The princess, who admitted she was ‘too busy chatting’ to make her own map, asked whether the children did arts and crafts at home, telling them: ‘It’s good to be messy, it’s good fun.’<\/p>\n

New Addington in south London<\/a> is one of England’s most deprived communities with high levels of poverty, youth violence and unemployment.<\/p>\n

Castle Hill Academy works in tandem with the charity Place2Be, of which the Princess is patron, in order to help build trusted relationships, using creativity and play.<\/p>\n

The princess, wearing a brown trouser suit, was met on arrival by Katy Peart, the school’s head, Catherine Roach, chief executive of Place2Be and Col Ray Wilkinson, deputy lieutenant for Croydon.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Princess of Wales has made a surprise visit to a school in Croydon – where she got stuck into arts and crafts with young pupils to highlight Children’s Mental Health Week<\/p>\n

\"Kate, <\/p>\n

Kate, 44, beamed while chatting to students at Castle Hill Academy – for her work as patron of mental health charity Place2Be<\/p>\n

\"Kate <\/p>\n

Kate spoke to pupils, many of whom presented her with cards, during her surprise visit this afternoon<\/p>\n

\"Kate <\/p>\n

Kate enjoyed some arts and crafts – and also games – during the visit, where she also got to chat to pupils<\/p>\n

\"Kate, <\/p>\n

Kate, a Patron of Place2Be, a UK children’s mental health charity, visited Castle Hill Academy in New Addington, Croydon<\/p>\n

She was shown into the garden of the nursery attached to the school, noting how important it was for children who do not have their own outdoor spaces at home.<\/p>\n

She joined a group picking up miniature pom poms with tweezers. ‘Can I have a go? Is it hard?’ she asked. ‘What’s your favourite colour? I love green, it reminds me of nature and being outside.’<\/p>\n

The Early Years outdoor play space was funded by Deloitte, a member of The Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for Early Childhood, and is designed to promote emotional regulation, sensory exploration and creative play.<\/p>\n

The taskforce was founded by the princess in March 2023 and aims to encourage business leaders to champion the social and emotional development of employees.<\/p>\n

Inside, the princess sat down with a small group including Nayar, a foster mother who has two daughters at the school, Nikita, whose daughter has counselling with Place2Be and Anisha, whose husband died when their son was in reception.<\/p>\n

‘The children must love being outside and being able to use all the activities,’ she said. ‘What has it meant to you as parents?’<\/p>\n

Anisha described how her son had blossomed with the support he had received since the death of his father.<\/p>\n

‘I’m so sorry for your loss but being able to have that support and see how he’s thriving just shows the incredible work that’s going on,’ the princess said.<\/p>\n

\"Kate <\/p>\n

Kate smiled as she received cards from the pupils<\/p>\n

\"She <\/p>\n

She was all smiles as she was greeted with crowds of wellwishers<\/p>\n

\"Her <\/p>\n

Her Royal Highness also visited the school’s Art Studio, where she joined children taking part in the official Children’s Mental Health Week art project<\/p>\n

\"Photos <\/p>\n

Photos from the outing also showed delighted pupils lining up to gift the princess with flowers, which she gratefully accepted<\/p>\n

\"Kate \"She <\/p>\n

Kate smiled and waved as she made her visit this afternoon<\/p>\n

\"Later, <\/p>\n

Later, Kate met with the academy’s leadership team. The visit included discussions on Place2Be’s ‘whole-school approach to supporting children’s mental health, as well as the unique challenges facing children and families in New Addington’<\/p>\n

\"An <\/p>\n

An excited Kate surprised children at the school with a visit, and joined in for some arts and crafts<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Princess of Wales pictured during a visit to Castle Hill Academy in New Addington, Croydon<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The future Queen listened and chatted with pupils during the outing, which took place this afternoon<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The royal was all smiles as she coloured in and cut up carboard and tissue paper with the children<\/p>\n

\"Kate <\/p>\n

Kate smiled as she laughed along with pupils taking part in\u00a0Children’s Mental Health Week 2026<\/p>\n

‘Just focusing on their emotions unlocks so much potential for them, not only with their work but their relationships.’<\/p>\n

As the princess walked through the playground into the main school grounds she was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of children waving flags designed around the theme of kindness.<\/p>\n

She stopped to shake many of their hands, reading their flags and telling them she was ‘very impressed’ with their work.<\/p>\n

In the art room, she joined children aged between nine and 11 taking part in the official Children’s Mental Health Week art project – creating ‘belonging maps’ to consider the people, places and experiences that help them feel secure and connected.<\/p>\n

‘These are the things that you like, that give you a sense of belonging?’ she said as she took a seat at the table.<\/p>\n

‘I love this room,’ she enthused. ‘How often do you come into this room?’ The princess noted that it was good to use art to ‘work out some personality and identity’.<\/p>\n

Looking at one child’s map, she said: ‘Kindness is key; that’s a very important message isn’t it? Gosh you are talented.’<\/p>\n

Before leaving, the Princess met members of the school and Place2Be leadership team to discuss their ‘whole-school’ approach to supporting children’s mental health, as well as the specific challenges facing families in New Addington.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The royal also met with parents who have benefitted from the organisation’s support, and paid a visit to the school’s art studio<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The attentive royal was all ears as she heard from the leadership teams during her visit to the school<\/p>\n

She asked how easy it had been to bring the parents on board with the Place2Be ethos and whether they worked out in the community as well as on site.<\/p>\n

‘Social and emotional development and relationship building, making it ingrained in the culture, is what’s going to make a difference,’ she said. ‘Making it more than linear.’<\/p>\n

In a personal message posted on Kensington Palace’s social media channels after the visit, the Princess said: ‘This year’s Place2Be Children’s Mental Health Week is about the importance of belonging. It can be easy to overlook the importance of the things that matter most; love, care and time spent together. Belonging and connection is so important, and is a fundamental part of early childhood development.<\/p>\n

‘As Patron of Place2Be, I am incredibly proud of the work they do to support families and communities to nurture children and young people.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Princess of Wales joined flag-waving young children making ‘belonging maps’ at a primary school to highlight the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,2093,84,392,4472,120330,13647,13341],"class_list":{"0":"post-470615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-healthcare","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-old-femail","15":"tag-royals","16":"tag-saudi-arabia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}