Principal Update Week 7 Term 2

Schools are busy places and with the myriad objectives that filter into the curriculum from outside education, the fundamental skill sets that are critical to forming the backbone of long term school success for our children can easily be overlooked.

In the article, “These are the skills that your kids will need for the future (Hint: It’s not coding),” The author, Greg Satell, suggests that many of the things children learn in school today may not even be relevant by the time they graduate from university. Automation and the rapid development of new technologies means that even the very things we rely on each day such as computers will no longer operate or even be programmed in the same way in the very near future.

What really stood out to me in the article was the emphasis on the importance of developing children’s social emotional skills:

That’s why we need to pay attention not just to how our kids work and achieve academically, but how they play, resolve conflicts and make others feel supported and empowered. The truth is that value has shifted from cognitive skills to social skills. As kids will increasingly be able to learn complex subjects through technology, the most important class may well be recess.

Greg Satell

Whilst it is important for children to do well academically, the development of the following five skills: friendship, organisation, optimism, coping and relaxation are vital and contribute greatly to overall student success and contentedness at school.

Friendships skills are generally developmental, but they don’t develop in isolation. Children acquire these skills when they play with their siblings and interact with children and adults outside their family. The ability to get along with others is hugely important for children. Those children with a strong set of friendship skills are easy to like, easy to relate to and easy to play with. The skills they possess include knowing how to win and lose well, how to approach others to join in a group and how to lead rather than boss.

The ability to organise your time, your space, your items and other aspects of your life is a huge plus for anyone. The best way to help children who are organisationally challenged is to introduce them to systems and processes to help them organise themselves. These can include the use of visual reminders, anchoring (i.e. linking new behaviours to habitual behaviours) and the mapping out of activities.

Optimism is a vital skill set that can be taught. Leading psychologist Professor Martin Seligman discovered through his research that while some children are more inclined by nature to see a glass as half empty than half full, all children are capable of developing an optimistic explanatory style through exposure and direct teaching. The skills of optimism include being aware of self-talk, reframing negative events into positive events and the practice of perspective-taking.

Children will generally face a number of challenges during the course of their school lives including overcoming the disappointment of not being picked on a team, working their way through difficult learning situations and dealing with rejection. The impact of these challenges will depend on each child, the support they receive and their coping skills. Like optimism, coping skills can be taught. Some children will use coping strategies quite naturally, while others need parental and teacher input to help them cope with even seemingly minor challenges.

Lastly the ability to relax and get away from it all is vital for the maintenance of mental health, which in turn affects a student's ability to perform. The world we live in is fast paced and often action packed. The pressure of keeping on top of things needs to be released for children through relaxation and play. The ability to relax and unwind is paramount to your child's school success, so as not to it lead into anxiety and other mental illnesses. Relaxation techniques such as mindfulness and meditation, which are taught here at school, participating in hobbies and enjoying creative pursuits, just having the freedom to play all contribute to creating the environment for a healthy state of mind.

Children will naturally develop many of these skills as they mature but they also need to be nurtured environmentally. Social Emotional Learning is an integral part of our curriculum. Each day we explicitly teach key concepts relating to wellbeing and encourage children to play, participate in sports or join activities such as Lego Club/Chess during the breaks. At St Columba’s we see this as a vital component of the curriculum that not only instills in our children the skills needed for success educationally but also contributes to the education of the whole child.

Newsletter Access

Please note that you can still access the newsletters from the website. They are located under News & Events , School Newsletters 2019

The 2018 Annual Report

The 2018 Annual Report to the Community can be found on the school website https://www.stcolumbasprimary.org/our-school/annual-reports/ or is available from the office as a hard copy

NCCD Collection of Information

What is the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data? Schools must now complete the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) every year. It counts the number of students who receive additional adjustments or ‘help’ at school because of a disability. The NCCD helps governments plan for the needs of students with disability.

Read more here:

Dine with Heart: a big thank you!

Our parish Dine with Heart Soup Evening was a resounding success with 70 parishioners and school families and friends gathering to enjoy a bowl or two of warm, nourishing soup on a cold night. An array of delicious desserts and cakes followed with a hot cup of coffee/tea. Good company, a warm atmosphere and plenty of chatter was enjoyed by all. It was wonderful that we were able to host such a great night with all the proceeds going to Sacred Heart Mission Meals Program. Together we raised $1,676.50. This was possible through the meal ticket sales and kind donations which were received from those that could not attend.

Thank you to Adrian, Nora, Mairead and Antonietta (Toni) for cooking, donating and serving the soups; to Billy and Vera who helped with service and ticket sales; to Carlo for all his organisation of the event and assistance with tickets on the night and our cooks and parishioners who donated all the sweets and cakes. There was an abundant spread thanks to their generous contribution. Many thanks to Jane Hearnes for all her admin support as well as her help in promoting the event. Thanks to Marita for her work in promoting the event within the school community. Finally a huge thank you to those who came early to set up and/or helped with the cleaning and pack up throughout the night. We are grateful to everyone who came and donated to this most worthy cause.

Kiss & Go Reminder

Save the date Wine & Cheese Night

Please save the date, Friday 6th September 2019 at 7pm in the Parish Centre for the annual Wine & Cheese night. More exciting details to follow.

Woolworths Earn & Learn is back!

Woolworths are helping schools across Australia to get exciting new equipment. For every $10 you spend you’ll get an Earn & Learn sticker from Woolworths. Collect as many stickers as you can between now and 25th June. A collection box has been placed at reception. Thank you in advance for your participation.

Community News

Art Supplies Needed