Dear Parents and Carers,

It is hard to believe but it is time to enrol your child for Kindergarten for 2022! Please phone Kate Thompson and she will send home an enrolment package. We are delighted to announce that the CSO has continued their generous funding for next year so we will once again have a dedicated Kindergarten class. We are asking our current parents to get your forms in early before we advertise to the wider community.

Each week staff have a professional learning meeting where they share ideas to improve opportunities provided to our students. Yesterday we discussed how important children's confidence is to their success in the classroom. Building this confidence is complex but there are many things parents can do to assist. Following are some practical ideas from Michael Grose (one of Australia’s leading parenting educators)

1. Model confident thinking: In particular, let kids hear positive self-talk when you tackle something new. They should hear something like, “I’ll have a go at this. If I don’t do so well then I can try again tomorrow.” This is far more effective than “I’m no good at this. ” As well show kids how to reframe their negative self-talk by showing them how to find a positive in difficult situations.

2. Focus on effort & improvement: Current thinking shows that people who believe that they can increase their intelligence through effort and challenge actually get smarter and do better in school, work, and life over time. One way to develop a growth mindset is to focus your language on effort and improvement rather than on the results of what they do. By linking success with effort you are teaching them success comes from something other than ability.

3. Praise strategy: While effort is key for achievement, it’s not the only thing. Kids need to try new strategies and seek input from others when they’re stuck. Comments such as “That was a smart idea to tackle the hardest task while you were fresh!”(strategy).

4. Develop self-help skills from an early age: A child’s self-esteem comes as a result of his or her successes and accomplishments. The most important competencies to build confidence are basic self-help skills. These form the building blocks upon which other competencies such as organisational skills and many social skills are formed.

5. Let them spend more time in environments where they feel confident: Some children thrive on the sporting field but struggle in the classroom; they may be confident risk-takers outdoors but are held back by self-doubt in other settings. While self-confidence tends to be situational, it is also transferable. That is, often when you feel brave in one area of life then these feelings tend to merge into other areas. Confidence has a snowball effect so increase the time your child spends in areas where they shine to give their self-esteem and feelings of self-worth a boost.

Finally, let kids know you believe in them – that they will perform and succeed and that they can deal with life’s challenges and know that they can become more independent.

This Friday is an extra special day for our school as it is the feast of St Joseph. I encourage parents and carers to join us for Mass at 9.30am, followed by morning tea and some fun games. Then you are welcome to join us for lunch which you may purchase from our school canteen or bring a packed lunch for your family. Don't forget to return your RSVP slip by tomorrow. You are invited to come for all activities or just pop into school when you can during the day. Please remember to sign in at the front office when entering the school.

I look forward to catching up with you on Friday.

Pauline Long

Principal

Joey’s Matters

Weekly Newsletter of St Joseph’s Primary School Quirindi

Week 8, Term 1, 2021 · 16 Mar 2021

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