Be Kind, Be safe, Be respectful, Be responsible, Be resilient, Be ready

Dear Parents and Carers

I think its time to write about gratitude again. I am so grateful for our staff who made it possible for our 5 & 6 classes to attend a 2 night/3 day camp at the Adventure resort. It is such a huge responsibility to take children away and be on call 24/7. As well as this they sacrifice their own family time, which is precious. So a huge thank you to all involved.

The other reason for being grateful is the generosity of both our school community and the the wider community for all the magnificent prizes that have been donated for our Trivia Night raffle on Friday night. We have such a huge array of wonderful prizes to be won. A huge thank you to all, we really appreciate your generosity and so will our sister school in Bali.

I hope you appreciate the following reading.

Our life is a gift that comes to us through a graciousness that is beyond our understanding. Every adult and every child has a talent and an ability to contribute to the good of the broader life around them. But are we daring enough to ‘stick our neck out’ or ‘go out on a limb’ to realise the potential of our ability.

Lisa Messenger, who wrote a book called ’Happiness is….’ and who works in conjunction with charities such as Kids Help Line, uses her personal experience to tell us:

“Love what you do! Be passionate, have dreams and chase them wholeheartedly. Don’t live disconnected lives. If you don’t like what you are doing, change it now. Create a vision for yourself, be in love with life, stay true to yourself and use this strength to be the person you want to be.’

When attempting something new or different, we must not be afraid to make mistakes. If we want to achieve something, we have to be prepared to take the knocks and experience the failure. Life is a little like a game of chess; as some of the chess pieces move forward they may be beaten, but they may set up a winning game.

During the last century Helen Keller became an inspirational person for millions of people worldwide. At nineteen months of age she suffered an illness that left her totally blind and deaf. As a child, she became quite rebellious and was put into the care of a nurse named Anne Sullivan, who herself had only manageable vision. In spite of all manner of difficulties Anne taught Helen to read using Braille and how to use a typewriter. At the age of 24 Helen graduated from College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, set about writing a book and travelled the world giving speeches and advice. One of her sayings was ‘Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.’

Helen Keller tells us that if we focus on our strengths , such as courage, determination, perseverance and not on deficits and ‘ifs and buts’ we will eventually bring out the best in us.

What’s more , the influence of our decision will spill out into our family and affect our children. Strong positive action by parents will set a climate of achievement for children, who will be encouraged to dare to stick their necks out and go out on their limbs of personal endeavour.

Keep smiling

Cathy

P.S. Did you know Ken Kutaragi invented the Playstation?

Seniors camp @ Phillip Island Adventure Resort