FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

How do we know if our children are developing normally?  What is ‘normal’ behaviour?  Is there such a thing as ‘normal’?

Please refer to the following article:

PARENT INVOLVEMENT AT MURRUMBEENA

Today we held a meeting for interested parents to help us identify important cultural celebrations. As an International Baccalaureate PYP school, we aim to develop in students an appreciation and respect for the various cultures within our community and to become internationally minded citizens.

I’d like to thank Kylie Shanahan for facilitating the meeting today and also the parents who attended.

We not only identified significant cultural events, but also generated practical ways parents can participate in the school such as running cultural activities and creating informative displays. Claire Van Loon, our school’s PYP Coordinator also attended the meeting so that we can make genuine links to the classroom programs when they match the learning outcomes of the inquiry units.

Throughout Harmony Week, parents were involved in running lunchtime activities and these were well received by the students. We aim to do more of this when celebrations occur throughout the year.

Next term, Lanka and Malki (two parents) will run a lunchtime craft activity on Wednesday of the first week back to acknowledge the Sri Lankan New Year.  

Thank you again to the parents who attended today. We look forward to further participation in the coming months.

STUDENT WELLBEING AT MPS

Creating and maintaining a supportive environment where students are happy, confident and resilient is a continued focus for our school. You can walk around the playground on any day and you’ll hear children laughing, encouraging and, yes, you’ll even hear the occasional squabble. It is through social interaction that students learn how to communicate with others and build the capacity to manage their own emotions and responses to other people’s actions and reactions.

Our students come from a range of parenting backgrounds and bring with them an array of social expectations. Some students are bossy, some are shy and some find it difficult to deal with other children who hold different perspectives to them. It’s our role as adults (parents and teachers) to help the child see situations from another’s viewpoint and to provide strategies for building relationships. To support us with this, we are privileged to host two wonderful ‘Masters of Counselling’ students from Monash University.

MONASH UNIVERSITY ‘MASTER OF COUNSELLING’ STUDENTS

We welcome Marina Klose and Patricia Guzman-Moreno to our school. These Master of Counselling students will be working with us throughout term 2 and into term 3. Miss Marina will be at school every Monday and Tuesday, and Miss Tricia will be here on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The counsellors will be involved in a range of activities within our school, including:

• Mentoring our ‘PLAY Ambassadors’ so they are equipped to organise and run a range of play activities for students in the yard
• Running mini lessons in the classroom (with the teachers) to provide students with practical strategies to build friendships and resolve common yard conflicts
• Working with our ‘Wellbeing Professional Learning Team' (the team of teachers who are responsible for driving the wellbeing programs across the school)
• Incidental support to students who will be able to call in to the library at lunch times for a casual chat about the things that might bother them
• Incidental support to parents

INDIVIDUAL COUNSELLING

Sometimes students require additional support to manage emotions, interactions or to develop social skills. If the school believes a child would benefit from extra support, we will ask for your permission before offering individual counselling to the student.

Likewise, parents may see there is a temporary need for their child to have extra social- emotional support. If this is the case, you are able to phone the school and we can organise for the counsellors to speak with you before working with your child. 

The permission note attached outlines the counsellors’ ethical responsibilities and will be required from parents before this level of support is provided.