Principal's News

Dear Parents and Carers,

I may be a bit slow to catch on sometimes, (I am a Grandpa now, you know) but a friend pointed out the latest Netflix “must watch” to me over the weekend, “Old Enough” which is well worth a look. This documentary series, Rated G, is Japanese and follows very young Japanese children performing errands for their parents.

The program is filmed in such a way that the children are entirely safe but watching 3 year old's negotiate public transport and shopping in a supermarket is well worth a look.

It reminded me that children are often much more capable than what we adults think they are. 

We all want our children to grow into confident and independent adults. But just wanting and wishing it doesn’t make it happen. We need to give them opportunities to grow this confidence. We need to occasionally step back and let them fumble and fail in order that they learn. Kids need to see that mistakes are very common and forgivable. The last thing we want is for them to be so frightened of the world and what MIGHT go wrong that they prefer to stay in their rooms and hide from the outside world. 

The reality is, of course, that it is absolutely certain that things will go wrong from time to time. It is how we recover from these setbacks that demonstrate our resilience, our confidence and our independence.

Self confidence built on an authentic sense of accomplishment is absolutely the arch enemy of anxiety. So tasks like walking or riding their bike to and from school independently or with  trusted older students, running real errands for Mum and Dad, caring for pets etc can be great ways to build this self confidence in our kids.

LOST PROPERTY Whilst last week’s Parent Teacher meetings were being held I had left a table of jumpers, vests, jackets etc out for parents to see in the hope that some may reclaim lost property. 

It is very important to clearly label your child’s possessions, particularly their clothing well,  because they are kids, and they leave things lying around. If they are marked with the child’s name then we have a chance of returning it to them. 

Could all parents check name tags to ensure that their child has not brought home someone else’s clothes. These can be returned through the school office.

Parents who have lost an article of clothing are always welcome to either ask the kids to check “Lost Property” for missing items or come and check for themselves.

From NEXT Tuesday, March 14th, all unclaimed and unnamed items in our “Lost Property” collection will be given away upon request.

PUBLIC HOLIDAY School will be closed on Monday, March 13th for the Labour Day Public Holiday.