Myrniong - ELC to Yr6

It was positive to see the seamless transition to the return to remote learning.  Whilst not our favoured method of teaching, we could reflect on our previous experiences and continue the learning for our students with minimal disruption.  Regardless of your situation, we recognise that everyone is doing the best they can.  It is amazing what can be achieved when you remember to be a little kind to yourself.  A lesson we have learned from the past.  I remember reading an article from Narelle Lemon, the Associate Professor of Education at Swinburne University of Technology offering tips for remote learning and one stuck with me as something we can all benefit from even beyond learning from home.  It was ‘green time, me time, us time, screen time.’

“‘Green time’ is time in the garden, walking outside, or doing anything in nature.  ‘Me time’ is the individual time you require to refresh and rejuvenate.  ‘Us time’ is time spent together investing in your family relationships.  This could be a games night, listening to music, watching a movie, exercise, meals, or making something together.  We’re all familiar with ‘screen time’, but it’s important to think about how the screen is featuring in your life right now, especially how much time you’re spending away from the screen.  Remember to step away.”

Student Wellbeing

Wellbeing is about balance in all parts of life.  It includes physical, mental, social and emotional health, all areas that we work on together to ensure healthy, happy and productive lives for ourselves and our students.  We want our students to develop the ability to care for themselves and others, make responsible decisions, establish positive relationships and bounce back when faced with challenging situations. 

When students feel good about themselves they develop self confidence to engage in new experiences. Their sense of self allows them to understand and manage feelings and develop empathy for others. This leads to curious and confident learners.

This is a significant part of your child’s school life, complementing the academic learning that takes place.  This begins as soon as children walk through the door with importance placed on a ‘sense of belonging.’  This involves getting to know the people around them helping them to feel at home. Walking around the school, there are many examples of bright and colourful displays with names, photos and information as we all learn more about each other. Many writing tasks reflect this.

• At the Early Learning Centre students have painted their hands which have then been mounted on the wall with their photo and name.  This will help them to make connections.
• In Prep, you can see the word of the week, ants hanging from the roof and wombats on the back wall, all named creations.
• Year One have a line of photos on the window showing their faces and information they have written for the topic “All About Me”. In a short amount of time, I discovered swimming was a popular physical activity and they like eating ice-cream.
• A writing task in Year Two involved finishing the sentences, ‘A good student is…’ and ‘A good teacher is...’  This is displayed on the wall and you can see from a child’s perspective that students are kind, caring and try their hardest just to name a few of the common themes. Teachers are also caring, kind and patient.  A lift me up moment for staff when we read how we are perceived by the children.  They also thought good teachers are intelligent.
• Year Three are working on building character with a focus trait on their board for each week. They have shared many examples they have observed of being patient, polite and thoughtful.
• Year Four have their favourites, hobbies, pets, family, photo and description of themselves in front of you as you enter the room.
• In Year Five, one display is ‘work to ‘bee’ proud of.’  Each bee showcases a piece of writing done by each class member.  Take some time to read their interesting spider stories if you dare.
• Year Six P were asked to draw symbols that represented themselves which are displayed on fans in the classroom.  A lot of thought has been put into their designs.
• Year Six LR have the ‘5Ps of our classroom’ – be polite, be positive, be productive, be prompt, be prepared.  All have added their own examples.

I would like to add ‘be proud’ to both Year Six classes which they should be as we have seen them step into their leadership year showing initiative and being proactive.  We were impressed especially with the way the Year Six students assisted at the Swimming Sports, helping organise race participants, encouraging others and constantly reminding their House members to apply sunscreen and put on their hats.  They also shivered in the pool in the morning to help the younger students with their events.

You can find out a lot about the students by reading their thoughts and observing their drawings in the numerous displays within their classrooms.  They also provide many talking points which foster positive relationships across the school. 

Parent Information Session

It was wonderful to be able to invite parents back into their children’s classrooms for our information sessions last Thursday.   Thank you for your attendance and for making new families feel welcome.  A special thank you to staff for the effort put in to their presentations.

A big thank you to the boarders who volunteered to supervise our younger students whilst their parents attended these sessions.  Alexa Balog, Dom Wong, Charlie Duver, Luke Pickering, Henry Dennis, Liam Bilenkij, Matt Hutchings, Sarah Andersen and Zoe Balog displayed wonderful leadership whilst entertaining students, from Piccolo to Year Five, with games on the basketball courts.  Congratulations and a special mention to Alexa for co-ordinating her peers to help.  It was a rewarding experience for all ages.

KidsMatter

For those of you who don’t know, KidsMatter is an action team made up of students across the school who look for ways to make sure everyone at school feels a sense of belonging and have positive experiences to look forward to.  We have so many caring students that have contributed over the years and led by example to show all students and staff at our school that they matter.  Everyone is important.  Here are five of their top tips.  Think about them. Try them. Encourage someone else to do the same.

Just like toothpaste

Think about what you say and how you act. When you are cleaning your teeth and squeeze toothpaste onto your toothbrush would you be able to put that toothpaste back into the tube?  Of course not.  Our words are like this. What you say cannot be taken back.  You cannot put the words back in your mouth once you say them.  You can say sorry but better still you can make sure that what you say is nice in the first place.

Kindness - pass it on

We have talked about the idea of kindness having a ripple effect.  If you are kind to someone they can be kind to someone else and so on. This is a simple way to encourage positive relationships within the playground, classroom and everyday life and something everyone can do without a lot of effort.  We recognise that many children do this all day long but there is still room to promote and encourage such behaviour in everyone.  So if someone is nice to you, remember to say thank you to let them know that you noticed. Then you can do the same for someone else.  We can then all watch kindness rippling along.  We all have the power to make a difference.

Check your smile.  Is it working?

We all like to be surrounded by people who have positive attitudes.  These people look for the good in others and like to look on the bright side of life.  They have the power to brighten your day and make you feel good about yourself.  An easy way to be one of these people is by smiling in the direction of others.  A very simple act but one that can make a difference to somebody.  Check your smile.  Is it working?  Show it to someone.

Your behaviour matters

What you do is noticed, both good and bad. Make sure you are known for the positive choices you make.  Be a role model for appropriate behaviour, lead by example and encourage others to do the same.  The way you treat others should always be the way you would like to be treated.

The power of positive words

Positive words can be as powerful as negative ones.  We all have the power to change someone’s day or help someone to have an even better day.  It is such a small way to make a big difference.  So go ahead and ‘make our day.’

Mrs Bernadette Milich

Deputy Head of Junior School

Junior School Swimming Sports

Last Friday saw the Junior School students participate in our Annual House Swimming Carnival.  The day started with our junior swimmers demonstrating all they have learned over the past fortnight of swimming lessons run by the friendly instructors from H.I.L.A.C. It was very fulfilling to witness children who had very little experience with water prior to the beginning of our lessons confidently demonstrate their newfound skills of putting their eyes in the water, trusting their pool-noodle and kicking unaided on sports day.  It was equally rewarding to witness students in the pool who were eager to show off newfound swimming skills, techniques and endurance in various strokes, perform enthusiastically for their House and supporters. 

A very sincere thank you to our wonderful Junior School parents who so kindly donated their time to help time races, record results and accompany students to the correct places before and after races.  These sports could never run without your generous help.

Many thanks must be given to former College Dux, Tess Dempsey and Mrs. Maxine Baring who kindly organised the starting and finishing lines for all of our senior events. 

Congratulations to Laidlaw House who won the House Swimming Cup and to the following swimmers who won their age group champion medallions.

9yo           Andy Stewart and Poppy Shepherd

10yo         Charlie Hindhaugh and Sophie Satchell, Yolanda O’Sullivan

11yo         Harry McDonald and Phoebe Alexander

12/13yo  Tom Templeton and Marianna Novikov

A special mention is given to Tom Templeton who has won champion of his age-group for the 4th year in a row.  A truly wonderful effort.

Mrs Louise Patterson

Head of Junior Sport