Open Day- Thursday March 10th

Our first Open Day for 2022 will take place next Thursday, 10 March. Tours of the Senior School, Early Learning Centre and Junior School will take place. At the Junior School we are proud of our educational offer and authenticity with any visitors who come to Myrniong - ‘what you see is what you get’ as they say; great students and invested teachers. If you have friends, acquaintances or work colleagues who may be interested in joining the College community, please encourage them to come along to Open Day to see the school in action.

Learning Progress Meetings Week 8

Our Term One Learning Progress meetings are scheduled for Week 8, on the afternoons of Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 March, from 3:30pm to 6:00pm. Bookings can be made via the Junior School Reception from next Monday. The Learning Progress Meetings are a good opportunity to touch base with your child’s classroom teacher(s) and to set some goals for 2022. The SMART acronym is often used when setting goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time bound). I would add an ‘I’ and make it an ISMART goal, with ‘I’ being Inspiring. If a goal is inspiring to the individual it is set for, it has a much better chance of being achieved.

Star Students Presented at The Week 5 Assembly

The following students were awarded Star Student Awards at this week’s Assembly.

George Robertson

Harriet Small

Sammie Price

Hugo Cameron

Grace O’Sullivan

Reian Patel

Arshita Woosantia

Will Cameron

Abigail Henderson

Harriet Stacy

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

With the weather forecast front of mind for this Friday (4 March), we have made the difficult decision to move the Junior School Mad Hatter’s Tea Party to next Friday, 11 March. We felt this would deliver a better outcome for our students and parents and, allow the event to take place outside in the wonderful Myrniong grounds. It will be a lovely way to lead into the Labour Day long weekend.

Indigenous Incursion - ‘Wadjiny’

On Wednesday 9 March, the Junior school will welcome Troy Allen to perform ‘Wadjiny’. Troy is a Bundjalung Goori man. Troy uses song, music and didgeridoo, dance, artefacts, examples of ancient rock and cave paintings and fire making demonstrations to tell the stories of his people. This interactive cultural awareness programme is delivered in a fun and educational learning environment. The content is tailored to primary-aged students and is designed to be thought provoking and to encourage discussion of his rich and diverse culture.

Stephen Nelson

Head of Junior School

HDSA Tennis

Last Friday, nine tennis players from the Junior School enthusiastically participated in the HDSA Tennis competition held at the Hamilton Lawn Tennis Courts. A big focus of the day is for students to play and score independently, demonstrate positive sportsmanship and to appreciate the skills of those they are playing against. Mrs Leanne Willder who runs this event, doesn’t just ask for scores when children leave the court but asks players to comment on a positive aspect of their opponents’ game. Our students are always very complimentary of the skills of their opponents and the day is always such a pleasant one.

Congratulations to Amelie Shrive who was runner’s up in the girls’ competition and to Charlie Hindhaugh and Lachlan Reid who played off in the boys’ competition with Lachlan winning the tie-break.

We wish Amelie, Lachlan and Charlie the very best of luck when they head to Warrnambool to compete in the Division Competition on Friday, 11 March.

Junior School House Athletics Day – Tuesday, 8 March

We are all very much looking forward to our House Athletics Carnival to be held on Tuesday, 8 March. I thank Mr, Andrew Monk, Mr Lachy Patterson and Mr Heath Schmidt for volunteering to mark the lines on our oval this week. Your contribution to our event is greatly appreciated.

Throughout the carnival, all students have the opportunity to compete in all events within their age-group and parents, relatives and friends are warmly invited to join us in cheering on our students on the day.

The Athletics Carnival aims to foster positive attitudes towards participation, positive sportsmanship and competition. It is also an opportunity for our House Captains to lead their Houses. On the day, the House Athletics Cup will be presented, along with Championship Medals for one boy and one girl in each of the 9, 10, 11 and 12/13 year old age groups. These medals are in recognition of particular achievement in track and field for the day. Teachers will also be on the lookout for students who display attributes in line with the Liam Picken Award.

As always, we rely on parental help to run both our track and field events. Please contact Mrs. Povey if you are able to assist, or speak to me on the day if you become available. Thank you to those parents who have already been in touch to offer assistance.

Lunches:

Thank you so very much to Kate Pye and her merry band of parents of the Junior School who are again providing a sausage sizzle, drinks and icy-poles on the day.

Sausage in bread - $2.00
Juice box - $1.50
Bottled water - $1.50
Icy poles $1.00

There will be no lunch orders available on this day and students are reminded to bring money for the sausage sizzle or to bring their packed lunch.

Safety:

Children will be required to have sunscreen and a hat, before they will be able to participate in events on this day. They will also need a couple of drink bottles.

Uniform:

Students must wear PE uniform with House polo top to school for the day.

The program of events is attached to this Newsletter. Times are an indication only – please arrive early to all events. Parents are invited to pack their running shoes to join in the eagerly anticipated “Parent Race”. All ages and abilities welcome. Thank you to Mr Jarrod Sweeney for managing this event!

Mrs Louise Patterson

Junior School Sport co-ordinator

Emotional Regulation

At this time of year at the Early Learning Centre as children become familiar with their new learning environment and how they fit in with the group, making new friends and negotiating conflict and formulating resolutions, there can be a lot of big emotions for them to deal with. I am sure that these big emotions manifest themselves in the home environment too. Below are some tips you might like to consider.

Emotional regulation is the ability to understand and manage your behaviour and reactions to suit your environment. Children begin learning to self-regulate their behaviour as babies and this learning continues into adulthood. They learn this through the relationship with their caregivers and, by watching the way adults around them regulate their own emotions. Being their “calm within the storm” helps a child regulate their feelings and calm down quicker.

When you and your child are upset you may find the following guidelines helpful:

Recognise that you and your child are both upset.
Take some time out for yourself to calm down, let your child know you are doing this i.e. “I’m feeling frustrated about this big mess, I need to take a few deep breaths in the bedroom to help me calm down then I will come back and help you.”
When you are calm enough to come together, it may be helpful to go to a neutral place where the big upset did not occur.
Use a calm tone of voice and do something different for a few minutes i.e. read a book, look out the window or attend a chore together.
Help your child label their emotions/feelings i.e. “It looks like this is hard for you.” “Are you feeling sad/angry/afraid”. Don’t distract them or dismiss their feelings. Even difficult feelings are important.
Discuss your feelings about what just happened i.e. “When you did that I felt….”.
Stay with your child until they are calm enough. It may take a while for a child to calm down from overwhelming feelings. This is okay, it will take practice.

Reference: Circle of Security Parenting Program © Cassidy, Cooper, Hoffman, & Powell – 2000.

Mrs Frances O'Brien

Director of the Early Learning Centre

The Hamilton and Alexandra College Newsletter

Sesquicentenary Year - issue 43 · 03 Mar 2022

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