Published on: April 14, 2025
In exciting news, we would like to congratulate Emma Turton (Whole School Approach Practitioner from Compass Be); she has written a children’s story book called ‘The Sun Can’t Shine Every Day’. The story explores themes including emotions, the importance of sharing how we feel, and friendships. Emma highlighted that ”engaging storytelling can support children to learn and explore their emotions through fictional characters. Giving children the space to self-reflect, develop empathy, and manage their feelings through exploring how they would respond in the characters situation. ”
Emma shared some background information about how the children’ story book came to be, ”The Sun Can’t Shine Every Day was originally written during my time as an ELSA, as a therapeutic story for a child I was working with.”
The story is already a feature of Compass Be’s whole class workshop package, that is delivered to schools across Barnsley. Emma explained that ”The story fitted perfectly with our key messages in the KS1/LKS2 ‘This Is Me & My Emotions’ Class Workshop, I created as part of our WSA support for school”. Emma added that ”Story telling as part of our workshop is a wonderful way to ensure our delivery meets the needs of a variety of different learning styles. ”
The story originally featured in workshops ”as a vocal recording that the children close their eyes, listen to and discuss afterwards” (Emma). Compass Be and Emma, then received feedback and requests for illustrations to go along with the story, from both children and school staff. ”So the journey to finding, funding, and making it happen began, and is now a reality, and ensures we are using children and teacher voice to develop our workshop packages. ” – Emma Turton.
All of the Primary Schools that Compass Be works with in Barnsley, will receive a copy of Emma’s book from Compass Be, and the Compass Be practitioners will receive a copy for delivering the workshops too.
Compass Be shared ‘We can’t wait to use Emma’s book in our class workshops!’.
If you would like your own copy of ‘The Sun Can’t Shine Every Day’, the story book can be purchased from Amazon (available from mid-April).
Here is a summary of Emma’s children’s book – ”Sometimes the sun shines brightly, and sometimes the clouds roll in. But just like the weather, our feelings change too. The Sun Can’t Shine Every Day is a beautifully illustrated children’s book that helps young readers understand and navigate their emotions. Through a gentle and reassuring story, children learn that it’s okay to have both happy and sad days, and that every emotion is part of their journey.”
Barnsley , childrensbook , compass be , practioners , workshops