Principals Message

Good afternoon everyone.

School photos arrived this morning and have been sent home with children tonight (with the exception of those who requested photos to be picked up at the office. These families have been emailed today). If you have any concerns or issues with your order, please contact Advancelife Photography directly on 1300 728 972.

Regarding the Grade 6 photo, this is given to children at graduation time.

This term, we were excited to begin our weekly visits from Tim Tam the Story Dog and his owner, Jane. Each week, two students from Grades 1/2 and two from Grades 3/4 have the special opportunity to read to Tim Tam. This wonderful program not only helps students build their reading skills but also fosters a genuine love of reading. We are very grateful for the generosity from our community to support this exciting initiative.

We would like to thank our main sponsors:

Michaela (office) and Simon, of Hughes Trenching & Excavations.
Tarwin Veterinary Group, who have kindly offered an annual health check, vaccination and parasite treatment for Tim Tam.
Members of our school community who made donations to sponsor Tim Tam

Thank you to the relevant families for attending the Sacrament of First Euchartist family workshop at St Joseph's in Korumburra last night. Please ensure that you have let Catherine know which Mass you prefer. criseley@stlleongatha.catholic.edu.au

An interesting article below on RAISING CONFIDENT, INDEPENDENT CHILDREN - it's a quick 3 minute read. Let's set up our children for success. Extract from the Child Mind Institute on raising confident, independent children.

"When our kids are young, our job is to be fixers, protectors, and social secretaries. We childproof the house so they can’t get under the sink and block the stairs so they don’t fall down. We set up playdates and throw their parties. We call their teachers when there’s a problem. But at some point along the way, the parents’ job changes, without warning or indication, and we become consultants. Our job then is to help them find solutions for themselves.

Shifting from “fixer” to consultant is a major change, and you might have a hard time with that. As parents, we’re socialized for the fixer/protector role, to step in and take care of the problem. If your kid falls down and scrapes his knee, your instinct is to put a Band-Aid on it, and say, “It’s okay, sweetie. I’ll make it better.” Then they go back to playing and you feel good about having done your job as a fixer well.

However, you can’t put a Band-Aid on a social rejection or a failure experience. There is no instant fix when a twelve-year-old girl is suddenly cast out of her friend group, or when an eight-year-old boy struggles to memorize math tables and starts to believe he’s stupid. You can’t protect a child from the trials of life. But you can give your them armor by teaching them to advocate for themselves, and thereby develop the grit he/she needs to survive and succeed.

If your child gets a poor grade on a test, for example, a fix-it parent would say, “You should call the teacher to talk about what happened. You should meet with your friend who’s great at math and get some tutoring. You should study harder.” You should, you should, you should. Listen to how you talk to your child. When you hear that phrase, be aware that you are in fix-it mode, essentially choosing and handing him tools.

To scaffold, parents support and encourage the child to learn how to select the right tool for the particular task all by themselves. They might choose wrong, and then you can guide them to evaluate why that particular tool wasn’t the best choice. Next time, he’ll/she'll try something new.

It’s not that you are letting them hang out there on there own. You are standing by and collaborating with them to come up with their own solutions. Instead of them depending on you for answers, you will guide them, to come up with ideas about how they can do it for themselves".

To learn more visit: https://childmind.org/article/raising-confident-independent-children/

Have a lovley weekend.