Principal's Message

Dear St John's Community,

It's great to be back but it's taking some adjusting let me tell you. I've never taken that long off work in my entire life so it's been a bit of a strange week settling back into school life.

I promised that I'd share some of the things we did manage to do on the trip. I am conscious that many of our families come from some pretty amazing countries with some incredible history. It was incredible going to some towns where the houses were almost all built in the 1600s, 1400s, 800s or even earlier. Something we just can't replicate back here in Australia. 

The image on the banner above this newsletter is from Whitby Abbey in North East England. It sits high on a bluff overlooking the town below and the North Sea. A very impressive ruin now, it was used by romans, saxons, normans, vikings and Christians up into the 1500s when King Henry VIII destroyed it during the Suppression. Whitby and the Abbey are also used extensively as the setting for Bram Stoker's stories of Dracula. Many of the names in the 1500-year-old graveyard near the abbey can be found in Bram Stoker's book including Dracula's first victim. In the book, the name of the ship that brings Dracula to England is the Demeter from Varna which Bram Stoker created from the story of a real russian shipwreck that occurred before he visited Whitby in 1890 called the Dmirty from Narva. With Halloween coming soon Whitby was already gearing up for it when we were there. Halloween is a very big deal in Whitby and Dracula is all the rage!

Growth Mindsets & Neurodiversity

I hope by now you've been hearing about Growth Mindsets from the children as its something we've been trying to foster for some time now.

A growth mindset is the belief that our abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and hard work. As educators, we recognise that this mindset is essential for students to reach their potential. 

Positive reinforcement and encouragement should be standard practice in every facet of life, sadly, we know that's not the case. But, this approach alone does not produce a growth mindset. It's not enough simply to tell people or children to just “try harder” or “keep going.”

A true growth mindset must be developed to enable children to be positioned for the best chance of a lifelong pursuit of learning and growth.  To do that we need to focus on brain-based learning principles which is what we are trying to upskill our teachers and support staff with at St John's.

Why do we want our kids to foster and grow a positive growth mindset? It's simple, kids with a growth mindset are more likely to embrace challenges, learn from and deal with criticism, and persist in the face of setbacks - all of which contribute to ongoing academic and personal success. 

There are many ways to foster this thinking but the best way is to remind kids that tasks that require significant cognitive effort will enhance their neural connections and strengthen brain processes. This is what an athlete does to get better in an activity. Consider Rafael Nadal, who is easily regarded as one of the world's best tennis players. He trains every day for hours to not just perfect his craft but to improve it and you can't do that by doing the same training every day. If you are good at something and you want to get better you have to change your approach, you have to be constantly looking for a way that gives you that little bit more, and builds that muscle further and the brain is no different. If you like Soduko and you only do the same level of Soduko, you'll be good at it but that's all you'll ever be able to do. Sadly many people, especially kids these days don't want to do what they consider to be 'hard' and it's often a sense of anxiety that if they try and fail it's a poor reflection on them. But in reality, if you never push yourself, or never try, or be prepared to fail at something, you can never improve. The brain works in the same way. This effort also fosters perseverance - the experience of persistence leading to mastery of something.

Keep these in mind:

A strong brain embraces challenges, values effort, persists through difficulties and finds it easier to navigate life’s complexities.
Education can be instrumental in shaping cognitive development. Parents, teachers and kids can actively contribute to and shape the brain’s growth and development.
If kids learn to embrace difficult situations and persevere on challenging tasks they will also develop a joy for learning which is also a sign of a positive growth mindset. It's essential kids know that their abilities and their brains are not static or fixed. They can be continually developed through the right kind of effort and perseverance.

Production

Stomp dance classes started today in readiness for Production towards the end of this term and the kids loved it! Well...most did, a few weren't sure but they still either watched or busted a few moves which was wonderful to see.

The dates for Production are:

Thursday 21st November

Friday 22nd November

We are still finalising details on costumes and make up for parents which will go out early next week.

We are also trying to finalise times which is difficult right at the moment because we only have a basic idea so far of how long each Act might take. 

However, we believe we will be doing a dress rehearsal midday performance on the Thursday as well as an evening show, and then a proper Matinee on Friday with a Friday night finale.

This is to enable as many people as possible to be able to see the show given the seating restraints at the theatre.

Ticket details and session times will come out in week 3.

Trivia Night

A huge thanks to all those parents who helped to get the Trivia Night organised and off the ground. While we didn't have the numbers this year to make it the same fun-filled event it was last year and have had to cancel it, I still want to acknowledge and thank them for their efforts! THANK YOU, beautiful people, you know who you are!

A Prayer of St Osmund

Almighty God,

the light of the faithful and shepherd of souls, who sends out your servants to feed your sheep by the word of Christ and to guide them by good example: give us the grace to keep the faith of the Church and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ,

Amen.

Entering the school from Jayne St

Just an important and timely reminder for all parents entering the school drop-off. For safety reasons, please keep in mind that Jayne Street has a solid line that prevents anyone driving straight from Jayne Street into the school.

If you are entering the school from Jayne Street you must slow or stop and indicate at the solid line before you cross. You are liable for any accident you cause crossing the solid line in front of traffic coming along Paisley Drive.

Enjoy the weekend,

Kind regards,

Derek Bruitzman

Principal

Joke of the week: 

Why were the early days of history called the Dark Ages?

A. Because there were so many knights!

Fun fact of the week:

The first King of England - King Athelstan - declared a law that said everyone had to be in bed by 8pm.