The Kingswood Newsletter

Assistant Principal

Megan Franklyn 

Assistant Principal

 

 

A Seminar with Dr Justin Coulson

Wednesday 8 September 2021 | 7.30pm AEST

Anxiety in your Child – Link to register in your Compass News Feed

Anxiety has become one of the leading causes of ill-health in our children. And it’s also affecting more parents than ever before. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated what was already an accelerating problem.

Can we stop anxiety? Where is it coming from? Are our kid's bubble-wrapped snowflakes that just need to “toughen up” and get over it? Or is there an approach to our children’s anxiety that can build them, encourage them, and give them hope?

This webinar will provide the answers every parent needs to help their children – and even help themselves.

Over the course of 90 minutes, Dr Justin Coulson will help you to:

  • Recognise anxiety in your child and know how best to respond when anxiety flares up
  • Become a supportive hope-giver to your child to empower him/her to be courageous in the face of anxious thoughts
  • Uncover the research-based #1 strength your child can develop to combat anxiety and develop remarkable resilience.
  • Identify how your own anxieties could be affecting your child, and know how to manage them
  • Learn proven strategies to help both you and your child navigate and manage anxiety when things get stressful

Once you’ve participated in this webinar, you’ll have strategies that you can put into practice on the spot to help curb anxiety, build confidence, and restore resilience in your child. And if you struggle with anxiety yourself, you’ll be changed.

 

Note – this is a live webinar, but a link will be available for 7 days after the event.

 

RUOK Day 2021 – Thursday 9th September

Now, more than ever, we recognise the value of checking in with those around us by asking RUOK? Letting people know we care, by listening and tapping into the resources that are available to us, means we can take positive actions to improve our own and others Mental Health.

For primary school-age children, the themes of RUOK Day are: recognising emotions in others, learning to be a good friend and knowing who in your life you can talk to if you’re not feeling ok. There is more to it though than just asking RUOK? The four steps are: Ask, Listen, Encourage Action and Check-in

At Kingswood we will be having a Wellbeing Day on Friday the 10th of September, stay tuned to find out more from our Wellbeing Team.

 

Parents and Children who are struggling with remote learning

We understand that this is an extremely difficult time, some of us are trying to juggle work, remote learning and for some, this is with multiple children. This was a lockdown that we thought was going to last for a week and now here we are weeks later with no end date in sight. 

There is a lot of guilt associated with how well we, or our children, are managing compared to our friends, neighbours or family. Our message to you is to do the best that you and your family can do on any given day. On some days that might be more than others but be kind to yourselves and your children and look for the small ‘wins’ that you might have had that day.

The Guardian posted a story ‘Memo to parents and carers on homeschooling: Don’t panic and don’t feel guilty.’ (https://www.theguardian.com/global/2021/aug/21/memo-to-parents-and-carers-on-home-schooling-dont-panic-and-dont-feel-guilty)

A key takeaway from this article for me was “One of the things that parents and adults can do – and this includes all aged kids, teenagers and everyone – is to go and play with them,” says Sahlberg.” Whether it’s building Lego, playing Yahtzee/Uno or building a fort in the family room, something that is just a bit of fun where we’re spending time together by choice, not by reason of lockdown is sure to brighten all of our moods.

Remember to reach out to your child’s classroom teacher or myself to see if there is anything else that we can do to support you and your child/ren further.