National Reconciliation Week

We are brave, and making change.

This week, our students took the time to recognise and reflect on the ongoing process of reconciliation as part of National Reconciliation Week.

It’s inspiring to see our children embrace the power of empathy and action on both personal and collective levels.

As part of this year’s theme ‘Be Brave. Make Change.’,. students took part in hanging a large banner on our fence line, with our Year 2-6 classes places black, yellow and red ribbons on the fence posts to express their commitment to make change.

Our Foundation and Year 1 students created special cut-out ribbons, which were staked into the ground as part of the display. What a great job they did!

We’d love all families to continue the conversations about the actions that need to happen to improve our country for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. More information and ideas can be found at: https://nrw.reconciliation.org.au/2022-actions-to-make-change/

Leaf & Gumnut Painting

In recognition of Reconciliation Week, our students took part in Leaf and Gumnut painting and created a 'Hand Garden' as part of our Nature Play program. It's amazing to see the creativity of our children as they explore new and natural forms of art, and play with nature in a way many of them had not done before. 

Allowing our students to learn, play and explore some of the colour used widely in Aboriginal art was also a real blessing during Reconciliation Week. What an opportunity to play, learn and reflect together. 

How can you use nature to play, learn and reflect on the values that are important to your family this coming week?

I recall several occasions from my growing-up years when I was asked this question by my parents and not being sure of the right answer. “Are you responsible for this?”

My first thought was something like, “If I was responsible, this probably wouldn’t have happened.” My outside answer was usually more like, "Well, if they hadn’t  done something first, then I wouldn’t have..." I was then given the “responsibility” talk about learning to take responsibility for my own actions.

As I have reflected on things down through the years, it has raised some interesting thoughts. We work very hard as parents and educators to develop a strong sense of responsibility in our children. It is vital that we teach them the importance of being the one who chooses directions, but also know the sense of accountability for those choices.

However, I must also bear responsibility as a parent, teacher, school leader, and more mature person, for helping guide and encourage our children. It is the whole idea of shared responsibility, or social responsibility, that each of us should have if we are to help our family, school, community, city, country, or indeed our world, become a better place.

This shared responsibility is not always as easy to put into practice as it may seem at first. One of the areas that this becomes very evident in is the use of electronic devices by our kids. We have that path to tread here at school, and I know families also have to work through the complexities around creating responsibility in this area.

Below is an article with some very practical suggestions on how to approach the use of technology by our families and develop shared responsibility for helping technology be used for the best outcomes for all.

There are also a couple of links to some extra resources which you may find helpful.

Don’t ‘ban’ devices, make a plan

Creating your family’s technology use agreement is an evolving task and requires careful considerations. Involve your children in decisions about what are meaningful restrictions on the use of devices, based on what is fair, healthy, and aligned to the values of your family. Consider these key features:

• Avoid bookending the day with technology use, especially before bed
• Limit the stretches of time spent online in one sitting/viewing, break this up across the day
• Diversify the digital ‘diet’ – explore a range of online activities (games, TV shows, apps, etc) and try new content that might not be as popular, but possibly more pro-social
• Have clear expectations across the offline aspects of the day/week (around chores, learning, etc)
• Outline where screen-based media use can take place. Avoid bedrooms in favour of common areas.

Effective technology contracts involve consistency, protecting time offline for exercise, socialising, and other activities. Avoid using time online as a currency and create rewards and consequences that suit your particular family and situation.

Co-view and co-play, to spark conversations

Using technology together – by viewing content or playing games – is a good way to prompt meaningful conversations about device use, online activities and interactions. This will help young people make sense of their experiences and build skills to circumvent and/or manage online issues.

Bring curiosity rather than fear to these conversations. Talk about what you and they do, see and read online, how they feel about this activity, and how they respond to others. Fake news and misinformation is rife online, so helping kids understand how to spot dodgy information and think critically about what they see online is vital. Be conscious of listening to young people’s perspectives, rather than lecturing them about what they ‘should’ do (they know this but doing it in reality can be tricky!).

Parental monitoring software can help, up to a point

There are hundreds of monitoring and tracking tools designed to help manage time online, or block age-inappropriate content. While these tools can be helpful, the social-emotional and cognitive skills that allow us to manage our choices and behaviours require real-life opportunities to rehearse and repeat. Software doesn’t do the tough work of parenting (negotiations, communication, battling big emotions and burgeoning identity and independence) for you or guarantee no exposure to dicey content!

Don’t sweat the screen ‘time’, consider broader factors

Parents can get caught up on the amount of time their children spend online. Yet there is no agreement among experts as to what constitutes excessive time online. Instead, focus on:

• the quality of the content – what is it about, is it developmentally appropriate, does it require passive or interactive consumption?
• the context in which the technology is being used – when alone, in groups, or to pacify a child in a café or to stop a tantrum, in a global pandemic and lock-down?
• the cognitions (that is, the mental action) associated with the activity – are these thoughts helpful and constructive?
• the function of the activity – is it to study, for social connection, information gathering, or other uses?

Asking these more detailed questions about online activities will help parents make more informed decisions about whether particular technology use is serving their children’s wellbeing and development, and how to help their children manage this tech use.

Check your own habits and be a positive digital mentor

Parents are important role models for children – and this extends to screen and smartphone use. Be mindful of your own digital habits (and how easily they can creep into overuse territory) to ensure you set a valuable example of safe and savvy digital citizenry. Kids see our use of technology and consider that as the standard, try ‘narrating’ what you’re using devices for – is it to pay bills or organise the family, or to answer emails that could probably wait?! (Brewer, 2022)

Click here to view a quick tip video by Dr Justin Coulson related to this Insights article

Have a great week with your kids,

MB

Every week I share a story with the Foundation students from a collection of books in our school library written by Andrew McDonough.  One of my favourite stories in the series is, “Webster the Preacher Duck.” 

This story is about a group of ducks who waddle into church to hear a message from Pastor Webster.  Webster the Preacher Duck waxes eloquent about how God has given ducks wings so that they can fly and soar high in the sky.  Webster continues to expound that because ducks have wings, they don’t have to waddle around on their webbed feet.  To quote Webster, “You have wings!  You can fly!  Stretch out your wings!  Reach for the sky!” 

While Webster is preaching, the ducks in the congregation respond enthusiastically, praising God for giving them wings so that they can fly, but when church finishes, the ducks waddle out of church, and all the way back to their lake.

Whenever I tell this story, the students are always surprised by the fact that the ducks waddle home instead of flying. Are you?

This story reminds me of a Bible verse in 2 Corinthians 3:17 where Paul writes, “For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 

God gives his Holy Spirit to all of us so that we can be free from worry, stress, fear, pain, anxiety, anger and unforgiveness.  I pray that we will soar high with freedom in Jesus today, instead of waddling around with our worries.

God bless,

Roland Talamaivao-Amituanai

Are you happy? And, do you know it?

Most of us are familiar with this childhood song -  'If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!'

Maybe you’ve sung it, had it sung to you, or heard it sung at a preschool, library, or on the TV?

The strange expectation we have is that everyone knows what 'happy' means and is feeling happiness at just that moment in order to clap their hands along with the song.

But what if you don't know if you're happy... or what it is you're feeling in the first place?

Do I clap my hands, stomp my feet or pull the quilt over my face and pretend I'm not feeling anything for a little while longer?

Having the language to understand and express emotions is a powerful skill to have in our social and emotional tool-box as parents. And, it’s important that we help our children grow in this skill too.

Psychologists highlight that understanding what you're feeling at any given moment can help you make better decisions, move through uncomfortable emotions and prevent some of those bad feels in the future.

In short, being able to recognise and name how you feel is a foundational part of success and general wellbeing.

Amelia Aldao PHD puts it this way, 'Having a good sense of what you're feeling needs to be the starting point. Otherwise, it's like playing a sport without knowing where the goal is.'

You may have seen the graphic below before -  it's a simple and powerful way to work through how you are feeling, and a useful tool to use with your own kids if and when they are struggling to explain or constructively respond to how they are feeling.

Start in the middle, and see if you can become more specific with the emotion you are experiencing.

If you can name it, you can then work out what to do with it.

Having the language to talk about our social and emotional health is the first step to improving it.

Take a moment this week to reflect on your own feelings – particularly when they turn to those on the right-side of the wheel.

Next time your child is struggling to deal with their emotions, instead of squashing them why not use this tool to help them explore and name how they are feeling, and then work together to find some positive responses to that emotion.

PS - Felt an emotion that's not on the above list - you might want to check out 7 emotion's you've probably experienced but never knew.

Is your child a close contact?

If your child becomes a COVID close contact, either because a household member has tested positive or they have been exposed elsewhere, SA Health encourages them to RAT and continue attending school if they do not have any symptoms. If they develop symptoms they must not attend school and must get tested as soon as possible.

SA Health guidelines also outline that all close contacts over the age of 12 or older must wear a mask when outside the home. This is an important step in combatting the spread of COVID-19 in the school and community.

Year 4 Art

In Art, the Year 4's have been learning about the 7 Elements of Art. To top off our learning we created a rainforest scene using tints and shades of green. These artworks used different elements they had been learning about through Term 1. 

We are so proud of the work our students can achieve when they put in their best efforts.

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