Principals News
Dear Parents,
The cold weather has certainly hit, and there is still a lot of sickness going around. Nevertheless, many busy and exciting activities have continued to engage our students at St Mary’s over the past fortnight. I hope you had a wonderful long weekend, whether you ventured away or stayed close to home. I hope it was a great opportunity for you and your families to relax and spend quality time together.
Recently, I came across an article that resonated with me, emphasising the importance of challenges as pathways to growth. This article appeared in Happy Families & Schools. It highlighted the significance of becoming skillful learners and supporting our children to embrace challenges more comfortably. At St Mary’s, our students are continually challenged in a highly supportive environment, both in the classroom and through the many extracurricular initiatives. It brings us great joy to see our students thrive and
acknowledge their successes as they overcome challenges, reaching their personal, social, and academic milestones.
Challenges are indeed the pathway to growth. When children habitually avoid challenges, their learning tends to stall. However, when they learn to understand, value and embrace challenges, their learning accelerates. Therefore, helping our children develop a healthy relationship with challenges becomes a critical way we can assist them in becoming better learners. To allow this to happen as parents we must step back and allow them to flounder at different times.
How does your child respond to a challenge?
Does your child avoid a challenge, seeking their ‘path of least resistance’ in learning? Or do they select the challenges they know they can do? Do they look like they are working hard but secretly avoiding mistakes by not taking on anything too challenging? Maybe your child takes on challenges because the teacher tells them to; they follow the teacher’s instructions and are led through challenging tasks. Perhaps your child takes on challenges because they need to or they have something they want to achieve. Their relationship with challenge is born out of necessity so they can reach their goal. But imagine if your child embraced challenges. In the spirit of John F. Kennedy, when he said, “We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard!” Imagine if when they were given the choice of doing something hard, or something easy, they’d choose the more challenging task, because they understood that challenge is the pathway to growth. We need to continue to support our children to be able to respond to challenges in a effective way.
Becoming a Skillful Learner
How our children respond to challenges is a key element of what is Learnership- the skill of learning. Learnership is a skill developed over time. It helps our children (and us) to get more out of every learning opportunity. Most importantly, Learnership is something we can teach our children that helps them to thrive both in school and in life. As parents, we can help our children on the path to becoming better learners, by helping them develop a healthier and more productive relationship with challenges.
Comfort Zone V Learning Zone - What’s the Difference?
The first step in helping your child develop a healthy relationship with challenges is to teach them the difference between their Comfort Zone and their Learning Zone. We’ve all heard that we need to get outside our comfort zone and challenge ourselves, but how many of our children truly understand what that means? For many people, getting outside their comfort zone means trying something new. But something new isn’t always something challenging. Very often ‘new’ is simply an “easy thing we haven’t done yet”. There is little struggle involved in this type of challenge, it comes with a great deal of certainty, and confidence that we’ll succeed. These challenges feel more like a task. They keep us busy, but they don’t help us get better. These types of challenges are in our Comfort Zone.
To be truly challenged, our children need to stretch themselves beyond their current abilities. These types of challenges feel like a problem. Unlike a task where the path to completion is easily recognised, the solution to this challenge is not immediately apparent. They leave us feeling uncertain, and they involve struggle. The challenge feels “hard”. When our child feels like this, it’s a good sign they are in their Learning Zone. Being in your Learning Zone feels uncomfortable. When our children find themselves in the Learning Zone, their first reaction is often to get out of it. Suddenly anything else seems like a more attractive option. They look for distractions, seek out easy options, or adopt any number of avoidance strategies.
Struggle is temporary
It’s important to help our children recognise that the feeling of struggle and discomfort that comes with being in their Learning Zone is temporary. It passes. Many children believe if they are struggling now, then the next step in learning will involve even more struggle. They believe that the further they go, the more uncomfortable they’ll feel. So naturally, they turn away from further struggle.
The reality is that effort is the currency of growth, and struggle is the price we pay for that growth. The reward is that what we experienced as hard today, becomes easy tomorrow. It doesn’t get harder and harder and harder. It’s hard, then it’s easy. Then they move on, and the next step is also hard until they make that easy. Being in the Learning Zone, and experiencing the struggle that comes with it, is not only a normal part of learning but also an essential part of growth.
Social Media Discussion
There has been a lot in the press over the last few weeks about restricting social media to age 16. Jonathan Haidt’s book, ‘The Anxious Generation’ has been widely publicised. There are so many resources stating the problems with kids using social media, and we’ve all seen it with our own eyes. The most effective thing we can do to support the movement to delay social media for kids is to build a community around us of parents who share our concerns. Below is a link to a conversation between Jonathan Haidt and UK GP Dr. Rangan Chatterjee who is regularly on the BBC. They cover much of Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation. Dr. Chatterjee has school-aged children and asks some great questions. Of this episode, Dr. Chatterjee says, “I think that this is one of the MOST important conversations I’ve EVER had on my podcast.”
It really is worth a listen and helps explain why this topic is so important for us and our children. “It only takes a few parents per class to delay smartphones and that empowers many others to say no. A collective action is solved by parents banding together and holding to the same norms.” – Jonathan Haidt
Signing the 36 Months Campaign petition can help our voice to be heard in Parliament: https://www.36months.com.au/
We will be running a Cyber Safety session for families on Wednesday 7th August and I would ask that all parents pencil this date into their diary. More details will be provided next term.
School Reports
On Wednesday 19th June you will be receiving your child's report, which includes marks and comments in all learning areas. We believe that these reports, along with subsequent Parent Teacher Meetings, provide a valuable opportunity for you to witness the progress and success your child has achieved over the semester. It is also a time to look ahead and consider the next areas of growth and learning. Not only are children taught to do the basics but also we are required to teach and assess:
- Social skills
- Organisational skills
- Interpersonal skills - how to manage and be responsible for their own learning, to reflect on their learning, ability to think creatively, reason, process information and reflect on their thinking
- ICT skills are less focussed on locating and organising information but also emphasise the need to create and communicate
- Extra-curricular activities
There have been some important updates regarding the Mathematics curriculum in Victoria that affect the reports. The Victorian Curriculum F–10 Mathematics Version 2.0 (Mathematics Version 2.0) was recently released on the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) website, marking a significant shift in how Mathematics is taught and assessed in our schools.
These changes have been developed based on extensive feedback from Victorian educators, ongoing monitoring by the VCAA over the past four years, and thorough consultation conducted by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).
The revised curriculum introduces six distinct strands of Mathematics instead of the previous three. The six strands are Number, Algebra, Measurement, Space, Statistics, and Probability. In the Mathematics Curriculum Version 2.0, there is a higher emphasis on Number during the early years, with many number concepts introduced earlier in the curriculum compared to the previous Mathematics curriculum. Strands such as Probability will not be introduced until Year 3.
One significant change parents will notice is in the reporting of your child's progress. Instead of seeing 3 individual marks for each strand, each student will now receive a single mark for Mathematics, which is a summary of each of the strands taught.
This year, the reports will only have two comments:
- What your child has achieved
- Areas of improvement/future learning
As a staff, we are very proud of the progress and results of the children and as parents, you should be too. For some of you, the reports may be a little confronting as they might address areas that need further work or development. These could include academic, social, behavioural, or interpersonal skills and can be regarded as an opportunity for improvement. I am particularly proud of the achievements of all children, from the Prep children who have only been here for 6 months all the way through to our Year Sixes, who are about to embark on their final semester at St Mary’s. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff for their thorough preparation of these reports.
Parent Teacher Interviews
Parent/Teacher interviews are scheduled for next Thursday, 20th June (between 1:30 pm and 8 pm). School will conclude at 1pm on Thursday in order for the interviews to take place. These fifteen-minute meetings will be conducted face-to-face in your children’s classroom. Parent-teacher interviews allow parents and teachers to discuss students' academic and social-emotional learning at school and how best to support the next steps in their learning. If you cannot attend on this day, we ask that you contact your child’s teacher so that they can arrange a time to meet you next term. Interviews can be booked using the following link https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au. The following code will allow you to book times jrzkc (case sensitive)
Homework Policy
As outlined in previous correspondence, the school has been undertaking a review of its homework policy this term and has sought feedback from all stakeholders- parents, teachers, and students. There have been a number of small changes to homework commencing Term Three and these changes were ratified at the last School Advisory Council meeting. Attached is the link for the updated St Mary’s Homework policy and I would ask that parents make themselves familiar with it so they understand the expectations of their child at the different year levels.
Professional Development Days Last Week
Last Thursday and Friday the staff came together to undertake professional development and the focus was on working with different styles and how we can best utilise the skills we have on staff. ‘It’s not our differences that divide us. It’s our inability to recognise, accept and celebrate those differences” - Andre Lorde.
The learning outcomes from the days were:
- Discover each staff member’s behavioural style and apply this knowledge to work relationships
- Be part of an effective team and value the strengths of others
- Grow a positive work environment
I would like to thank the staff for their support and involvement in the days.
Canberra Camp Information
The students in Year 6 had a wonderful time exploring Canberra. Their behaviour was exemplary, proudly demonstrating our school’s RICH Values. Our tour of the national capital included a visit to Parliament house, The Australian War Memorial, The Australian Electoral Education Centre, Questacon, The High Court of Australia and The Australian Institute of Sport. These educational programs were focused on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy and this exciting and engaging experience will now directly inform and support our Inquiry unit at school.
The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $45 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion. Please note, this was taken into account when costing for the camp was finalised.
Conclusion Of Term Two
Term Two will conclude on Friday, June 28th, at 1:00 p.m., and Term Three will commence on Monday, July 15th, at 8:45 a.m.