Newsletter 8 – 1 June 2022

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Over the past few weeks a number of our students and staff, myself included, have been impacted by COVID-19. I hope that we are over the worst of it now and that everyone who currently has COVID, makes a speedy recovery. If you haven’t collected your box of RATs from the office, you are welcome to do so; they are still waiting for you in the office.

Long Service Leave

I am on Long Service Leave this week. In my absence, Mr Hughes (Mon & Thurs) and Miss Thomson (Tues & Wed) will be overseeing the smooth functioning of our school.

Kiss and Drive

For those parents using Kiss and Drive, can I please ask that you do a lap around the block if your child is not ready and waiting for you. If everyone does this, our Kiss and Drive will flow much more efficiently and smoothly. The build-up of traffic at the round-about will subside and the safety of all community members will be enhanced.

Student absentee notes

To assist our teachers and administration staff, it would be greatly appreciated it parents could notify the school of their child’s absence via email or the Absentee form on our website before 8.30am. This will enable teachers to accurately account for student absences and reduce the number of parent phone calls that Mrs Tatasciore and Mrs Nichol, in the Office, need to make in the mornings. Every effort will be made for parents of students with unexplained absences to be contacted by 9.30am.

Kindy enrolments

Last week I conducted several Kindy interviews. As part of the interview process, I take the parents and their child for a tour through our school. Each of the parents I walked around commented on how polite, well-groomed and engaged in their learning our students are. They also remarked on how involved and invested our staff are in the students learning. The feedback and observations made certainly are a credit to our beautiful school community; every single member contributes to making our school such an inviting, enriching and flourishing place to learn and work.

School Fees

School fees for Term 2 were due by the end of May. If you have not yet paid your fees, can you please do so as soon as you can.

Wellbeing

Deb Perich, a CEWA Wellbeing consultant, has been working with our teachers over the past few months to build a greater understanding of wellbeing and emotional literacy. Emotional literacy is incredibly important for our students as it enables them to recognise, control and reset their emotions. Last week we explored Marc Brackett’s RULER approach.

Recognising emotions in oneself and others
Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions
Labelling emotions with a nuanced vocabulary
Expressing emotions in accordance with cultural norms and social context
Regulating emotions with helpful strategies

Research shows that these five skills are associated with a wide range of important life outcomes, including greater academic performance, better relationships, enhanced leadership skills, less anxiety, better conflict-resolution skills, and greater wellbeing.

Recognising emotions involves identifying:

• our emotion by interpreting our thoughts and physiology (Heart rate, body temperature etc)
• cues in ourselves and others which include:
  • Facial Expression
  • Vocal Tones
  • Body Language
  • Words and Behaviour

Understanding emotions involves:

• Understanding the cause and the consequences of emotions, including their effects on:
  • Thinking
  • Learning
  • Decisions
  • Behaviour

Labelling emotions:

• Assists us to tame the emotions
• Helps us to identify the cause of the emotion – what triggered it
• Helps us to effectively communicate our needs and to identify the best way to manage our emotions

Expressing emotions is about:

• ‘how’ and the ‘when’ we express our emotions
• Appropriate ways of expressing emotions

Regulating emotions involves:

• Developing thought or action strategies
• PRIME – to achieve emotional goals

As parents and teachers, it is essential that we support our children to develop these skills so that they can flourish irrespective of the vast challenges and emotions they experience throughout the course of any given day.

I hope you all stay well and have a great week. I will be thinking of you as I slow the pace down and enjoy my bushwalks, bike rides and coastal walks – at least that is what I hope I will be doing during my LSL!

God bless,

Melissa Vranjes
Principal