Dear parents and carers,

Most of the conversations we have with parents are about their child’s learning and we also, from time to time, just chat about their child’s happiness and their connectedness to others. Parents want to know if their child is liked by others and if they have friends. As we are all aware learning and wellbeing go hand in hand.

One of the things we take particular notice of at school is age appropriate behaviour. Children learn so much from playing. Playing can help children develop their social skills with others.

When children share experiences and listen to others they experience the following;

they start to explore their feelings
they develop self-discipline
they learn how to express themselves
they work out emotional aspects of life

Children often want to create challenge and uncertainty in their play. Through risky, challenging play, children test themselves and find out their own limits. For some younger children this means pushing and shoving. Every day is an opportunity to learn how to interact socially and some children find it harder than others. Some children are not yet self regulating and cannot cope with loss, rules and not being in charge.

Punishment does not fix inappropriate behaviour in young children. Consistent, supportive, encouraging conversations do have an impact. The older a child becomes, the more accountable they need to become. This can all be done through conversation too.

Every now and then we will need to implement a plan to help a student become more aware of their need to think more deeply about their behaviour. This is always done in conjunction with the parents.

Be assured that we monitor all children and their interactions with others. We really appreciate it when they tell us of their concerns as soon as something happens. This means we can intervene immediately. Parents will not usually be informed of the normal day to day physical interactions that occur. However, more serious ones will be brought to the attention of parents.

It is important to make sure children have time for unstructured, freely chosen play every day, perhaps some parents should limit screen time. The younger the child, the less time they should be using digital devices.

The following quote is from the book, “The Anxious Generation-How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness” written by Jonathan Haidt.

“The large reduction of face-to-face social interaction is especially important for understanding what the Great Rewiring did to boys. Of course, boys are mostly playing games with other boys, so a defender of video games might argue that boys are getting more social interaction than they did before internet gaming, just as girls are getting more social interaction via social media. But is online gaming as good for social development as hanging out with friends in person? Or is gaming like social media, giving a lot more quantity but of much lower quality? Video game play is happening within virtual worlds designed to maximize time spent on the platforms—just like social media. Video games are not designed to foster a small number of lasting friendships or to develop their players social skills. As Peter Gray and other play researchers point out, one of the most beneficial parts of free play is that kids must act as legislators (who jointly make up the rules) and as judges and juries (who jointly decide what to do when rules appear to be violated). In most multiplayer video games, all of that is done by the platform. Unlike freeplay in the real world, most video games give no practice in the skills of self-governance.”

There will be more on girls and social media in the next newsletter. Parenting is sometimes hard, stay strong, stay consistent and engage in play with your children.

Kind regards,

Jen

UNIFORM ALERT…

Black joggers with white soles are not to be

with our every day uniform. They are only to

be worn with the sport uniform please. There

are a number of Year 6 students who are

wearing them. If there is a particular reason

for doing so please email Mrs Honner to let

her know.

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