Principal's News

Trust Is Critical

There is a great deal of research that covers the idea of Circle Of Security. 

Our children need two key things from us.

1. Be a secure base. We are predictable, responsible, sensitive to their needs. We need to celebrate our kids. 
2. Be a safe haven. We need to validate emotions, listen, name emotions and protect our young children.

This image summarises the idea:

This combines to form attachment, which is critically formed in the early years of a child’s life. 

One key idea here is protection. Schools are challenging for many families, as you leave us to protect your child. As parents, we  can’t be there every minute to protect our child. However, this is ok.

Our children, as they reach schooling age, should be able to develop new trusted relationships with trusted adults, our staff. These relationships must always have boundaries and will never replace a parent, but they are important. When talking to students, I ask them to name their trusted two adults in the school. They get to decide this.

You might like to ask your child who their trusted adult is. You may ask them to identify another adult in your life that is their trusted adult, then you can foster that. 

Our role as protector remains, however, we must allow our students to experience all emotions, and manage conflict. We must allow them to experience the real world, knowing that they can always come to us in times of difficulty. Through these experiences, we walk alongside the child, listening, guiding, and providing possible alternative viewpoints. 

For school, your child will experience challenges with learning, with friendships and with motivation, just as we continue to do as adults. When our children come to us, they often don't want us to fix it, they want us to listen, to validate and then, and only then, they may seek some suggestions of how to move forward. That is when we truly become that secure base. I get this wrong as a dad, and often as a Principal, moving towards solutions too fast. Awareness is key, and I am constantly working on it. 

Our hope is that we remain an adult, who is a safe harbour, as they move into adolescence. Our goal is that when that moment comes, a challenging moment for our kids, they will seek us out and ask for help. If my children do that as they get older, I know my job is well done. But that work does not come when they get to that age, it’s already started. 

We don’t have to be perfect, far from it. We just need to be, as leading parenting voice Maggie Dent would say,  ‘good enough’. 

Trust is built through being Responsive, Sensitive, Consistent, Predictable. 

Refugee Week

Next week is Refugee Week. It has a beautiful theme of 'A Million Stories'. 

Whilst we don't have a million students, our families have so many stories, often that are never told. 

The stories impact our children for life, and why we attempt to build trust so that we can hear the stories and provide the support your children need. 

There are so many stories to celebrate within our families. Stories of survival sure, but back to our cookbook, stories of food and of friends that our students leave behind. 

If you would ever like to tell your story, or talk about your experiences, we are always here to listen.

Prep Showcase

Thanks to all the families that attended our Prep Showcase. 

Early next term, we will hold a 'Showcase' for the other years, so that you can see how your students are learning everyday. 

PAT Testing

Our students are currently completing PAT assessments. These Progressive Achievement Tests are important for us as teachers to track your childs progress and monitor our overall progression as a school. 

The data again is the most pleasing data we have had in many years, demonstrating the impact of explicit teaching and calm classrooms.