From the Head of Junior School

Welcome Back to Term 2

I sincerely hope that all families enjoyed a safe and restful holiday period over the past few weeks. I trust that your children are also feeling refreshed and ready to take on all that awaits over the coming 9 weeks of the term as there is much to look forward to. It was certainly a wonderful sight to see our Junior School students, especially our youngest children in the early years, don their winter uniform for the first time at Pittwater House!

As Term 2 has now commenced, I would like to remind all students about the opportunity for a fresh start. This is important to bear in mind, especially as we steadily build towards the Semester 1 reports which will provide parents with valuable feedback on how their child has progressed during the first half of the year.

In our Junior School classes, we work to ensure that the use of technology is purposeful and that the devices our students have at school are utilised as a tool to positively shape or redefine learning, not simply as a substitute to other established teaching methods. In light of this, parents are encouraged to work with their children in order to set a positive example through their own use of technology and also to collaboratively establish boundaries around the use of devices at home.

The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) shares their national guidelines which recognise the effects of physical activity, sleep and sedentary time (including screen time) on children’s overall development, health and wellbeing. Their research highlights that screen time has also been shown to increase between the ages of 10 and 14, especially amongst boys, many of whom are predominately gaming. This is certainly something to be mindful of as our students adjust to the return of usual school routines once again following the holiday period. 

On another note, all parents are reminded to please ensure that you sign your child’s diary at least once per week in the relevant section. In this way, parents are able to see any daily notes, announcements or upcoming events. It may also be necessary to gently remind your child that the diary is an important organisational tool that should be utilised more at school, especially if there isn’t much recorded in it in the first place.

Finally, as we look ahead to the commencement of a new term filled with meaningful learning experiences and exciting opportunities for students, I would like to once again remind all parents that the ‘live’ School calendar can be viewed directly through the Pittwater House app or via Parent Lounge.

Pastoral Care Notifications on Parent Lounge

I am very pleased to announce that any ‘Pastoral Care’ entries submitted by teaching staff across the school will now be done digitally so parents can view these by accessing Parent Lounge and then clicking on the red-coloured notification icon that appears on the right when you login. Parents will also be able to view all historical entries by selecting the ‘Student Details’ tab, followed by the ‘Pastoral Care’ drop-down option.

This system will be utilised for specific awards such as ‘Achievement Certificates’ and the newly created ‘HEROIC Awards’, which will now replace the ‘Strength Awards’ that were previously handed out to selected students. After reviewing the reward systems available to students, a decision has been made to streamline the number of awards and also ensure they are grounded in the HEROIC core values of the school. Please note that students will still receive a physical copy of their specific award/certificate which will be presented at one of our assemblies throughout the year.

Parents will also receive ‘Pastoral Care’ notifications through Parent Lounge for any negative choices made by students which may result in an ‘Infringement’ or lunchtime ‘Reflection’ being issued. Further to this, a collaborative parent meeting with me may also be organised to discuss repeated choices made which are not in line with expected student behaviour. 

In the past, students were issued an ‘Incident Slip’ for inappropriate behaviour displayed, although these sometimes never actually made their way home to parents to be signed and then returned to school. Moving forward, an ‘Infringement’ will instead be recorded online for parents to see, resolving this issue. 

Parents are also asked to please select the ‘acknowledge’ option, which can be done in Parent Lounge, after reading any notifications. By doing so, our staff will know that the specific pastoral care entry has indeed been viewed. 

Please be assured that parents will continue to be advised of any significant issues which occur at school via a formal email or phone call from a member of staff.

Thank you in advance for your continued support of the school as we seek to implement effective systems which both promote and reward positive choices made by students, whilst also addressing inappropriate behaviour in a more targeted way. Most importantly, we also want parents to be rightfully informed of situations, both positive and negative, that occur at school which can then assist in leading to necessary conversations at home. As I often mention, your child’s journey at school is very much a partnership between staff and parents, and it is crucial for students to see a meaningful sense of collaboration and alignment between both parties in support of all children.

URStrong ‘Language of Friendship’ Workshop

Later this term on Tuesday 4 June, a special online ‘Language of Friendship’ parent/child workshop for several URStrong schools across the country has been organised between 6:30pm – 7:45pm. As a proud URStrong school, we are very excited to offer this opportunity to families and strongly encourage all students across the Junior School to be part of this event, with at least one parent also present. 

By engaging in this session, parents will learn specific language and strategies to support their child in creating healthy, feel-good friendships. This session will also review concepts taught through the ‘Friendology 101’ curriculum in order to reinforce a common 'language of friendship'. For further information about this upcoming workshop, please refer to the recent communication sent to all parents regarding this event.

If you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me via email: glenn.stephenson@tphs.nsw.edu.au or phone: 9981 4400 and I will endeavour to assist you in any way that I can.