A New Language is Understood Better Together.

There is a very wise saying that we are better together.

One of the challenges of this is we also have a culture that can be very self focused. This can always create a source of tension. Our students experience this tension daily, in fact it’s a normal developmental process that you don’t develop this sense of other people’s perspectives until you move through childhood into the adolescent years. Therefore, in schools we are always going to be dealing with social challenges.

Children will often create their own language. They do this as a normal part of growing up and each generation will create their own language. When I was growing up we referred to a good player as a ‘gun’. This was always concerning for our parents who thought we were talking about weapons. Today there are many words that our kids use. They want to use this language so that we don’t know what they’re saying. Words such as Rizz, Skibidii to name a few are common words around all schools at the moment. I have had the pleasure of being taught by some of our students what this new language is. There is a great deal of research that talks about this being the best approach rather than denounce the new language that they use. We lean in with curiosity and learn from our children.

Another common habit of our children, particularly in upper primary into secondary, is roasting. Unfortunately, this is not talking about cooking. To roast someone is to use humour but ultimately to put someone down. This is usually done to start to create laughter and to be humorous. However as we know as adults, things escalate quickly. Roasting is no exception and it’s something that is challenging many of our students at the moment.

The resolution of this is to come together to understand each other’s perspective and to understand that we are better together. To call out any roasting that is hurtful and expect better of each other. Generally, the roasted will turn roaster, so it becomes a cycle. Hurt people hurt people. We need students to understand something that may be funny to you is not funny to someone else and in fact quite hurtful.

A strong culture is to acknowledge there will always be challenges and the resolution is to get around the table, consider what someone is experiencing and support each other.

If you ever have a child talk to you about being upset, I encourage you to praise them for speaking out, validate their feelings and reach out to the school. We are better together, so working collaboratively will always find solutions for all.

Welcome Back and Leave:

I will be on leave from Next Wednesday to attend a family wedding in Adelaide and spend time with my extended family I rarely get to see.

We welcome back Pauline Moran and Julie Fedserson from their leave. Pauline will be acting principal in my absence.

We wish Ms Wynd all the very best for the impending birth of her second child. We thank her for all her work this year and are excited to meet the little one in the near future. Mrs Rathnam, who recently covered in ¾ and works at St Marys, will take over on Monday and Tuesdays for the remainder of the year.

Prep 2025

We have our highest enrolment for Prep that we have seen for many years. We are down to our final places, with only 2 places left. This is exciting for our school.

Grandparents Day and coming events.

Thanks to our special people who came along today. It was great to see some join in the classes. We will look to normalise this into the future.

On Tuesday the 12th November, at 3:30pm, we will have a wellbeing afternoon, and Our Psychologist Lisa, who is highly skilled, and Mrs Drossaert will provide great tips to support your child.

This will be followed by a Garden Tour with Mrs Cheyne and you will be able to hear of exciting plans ahead for our Garden program moving into cooking with families. It would be great to see as many families there as possible!

Indonesian/Visual Arts

TERM 4