Parent Education Evening

Bill Hansberry

Raising Kids With Grit - 12/3/2020

We had approximately 50 parents join our parent information session with Bill Hansberry last week. Bill provided us with lots of practical and relevant examples and strategies on how to raise resilient children.

Bill summarised resilience as… “our ability to cope, bounce back and make sense of life’s challenges”. He talked about the importance of stepping back, empowering and allowing our kids to problem solve and work things out when they come across a challenge.

Bill walked us through ‘the 10c’s’ of being the best resilience coach your kids;

Competence - Helping kids develop a sense that they can handle tough situations, that we learn from our mistakes and that mistakes are ok.

Confidence - Talk to your child about the qualities they have and how our strengths can help us be brave.

Connection and Relationships - Discussing the importance of social relationships and that when things don’t go to plan that we need to rebuild the relationship with the other person. Rehearse how that conversation might go.

Conversion - Be wary of the ‘negative script’ when talking to children, use a positive script when asking about your child’s day.

“What went well today?”

“What was the thing that you were most proud of today?”

“What was something new that you tried?”

Contribution - When children can help out and contribute they have a sense of control in their world and know they can make a difference. Explore ways that kids can help around the house or explore acts of kindness or gratitude.

Coping - Talk to you child about that although life is wonderful it is not always fair. Worry is a normal part of life and can be looked at on a ‘catastrophe scale’.

Control - Model being calm and controlled when emotions get high and your child is heightened. Use a calm, low voice and follow through on consequences if they need to be used.

Communication - Actively listen to your child (say back what they have said), validate how they feel and ask them how they will go about solving their problem to promote their independent thinking and problem solving rather than provide them with the solutions.

Competition - We don’t always win, this usually means that someone else was more skilled, practised more or were luckier than us. This is part of life and helps us know what to do next time to improve. Promote that we are gracious in the face of disappointment and acknowledge the efforts of others.

Common Sense - Tell children that it's normal to be sad or flat sometimes and that everyone can feel this way. A suggestion was to write your worry down to acknowledge it, then look at it later, sometimes it's not always as bad as you initially thought.

Parent Feedback

“Bill provided strategies for parents to manage a range of behaviours and tricky situations that we deal with regularly, his expertise and experience is invaluable. Looking forward to his next workshop!” Emma Rawnsley Reception, Year 3 and 6 Parent

"Bill was brilliant. Cannot recommend him enough. Relevant and delivered with great humour and humility. Really looking forward to hearing him speak again. Thank you to the committee for bringing him to our school!!!" Kiara Cannizzaro Year 3 Parent

It is hoped that Bill will be returning to LNPS in Term 2 on 28th May. This will dependent on the current situation with COVID-19.

NAPLAN

The NAPLAN coordinated practice test is due to take place on Monday 23rd March 2020. This practice gives both our school and the Department good insight into how effective the NAPLAN online system will function. The information from the practise is de-identified and not recorded but gives students the opportunity to use the online testing environment before the actual test which occurs between the 12th and 22nd of May, 2020. If your child has a set of headphones please send them in to wear for Coordinated Practice Test.

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) assesses literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN tests in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. The assessment provides parents and schools with an understanding of how individual students are performing at the time of the tests. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process – it does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance. NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy.

Should you feel that you would not like your child to participate in NAPLAN testing, please speak to your child's teacher or a leadership member.

Thank you,

Cassie McCaffrey

cassie.mccaffrey823@schools.sa.edu.au

Random Acts of Kindness

This week the Australian Red Cross released results from a survey about kindness with SA being named the kindest state in Australia - tell us something we don't know!!

The Sunday Mail The Advertiser's columnist Lainie Anderson penned a piece today about SA, our kind nature and examples of why we deserve the title. Pick up the Sunday Mail today or read all about it below.

Huge shout out to F12/13 and their Random Acts of Kindness calendars that have been mentioned in the story. It is great to see in a world where we can be anything our kids are kind!

State Athletics Championships

Max in Year 4 ran this weekend in the State Individual Championships for athletics and came home with:

Gold- 70m
Gold - 100m
Silver - hurdles
Silver - 200m

Congratulations Max, what a huge effort.

Lockleys North Primary School

Issue 4 · 18 Mar 2020

In this issue