A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Therese Stewart

Last week was family week.

A Family Blessing

Lord God, we thank you for our families, those who live with us and those who don’t. Thank you for our brothers and sisters, help us to live together as a family. We ask you to forgive us for the times we have been mean to each other, or forgotten to help one another. We pray for your help to become closer in our lives together.

We make this prayer to you, Christ Our Lord.

Amen

The importance of sleep!

Studies have shown that children who regularly get an adequate amount of sleep have improved attention, behavior, learning, memory, and overall mental and physical health. The human brain is a work in progress until age 21 and consistently sufficient sleep will help individuals reach their full potential. Poor sleep or not enough sleep affects concentration, memory and behaviour, making it harder for your child to learn. Children who don't sleep well are more likely to feel sleepy at school during the day and to have difficulties with learning. Researchers believe that sleep affects learning and memory in two ways: Lack of sleep impairs a person's ability to focus and learn efficiently. Sleep is necessary to consolidate a memory (make it stick) so that it can be recalled in the future. More and more schools are struggling with children who are not getting enough sleep. Research suggests that sleep helps learning and memory in two distinct ways. First, a sleep-deprived person cannot focus attention optimally and therefore cannot learn efficiently. Second, sleep itself has a role in the consolidation of memory, which is essential for learning new information. As mentioned in our CyberSafety evening for parents, children in primary school are on devices till very late at night and are even setting alarms for later in the night or very early morning to continue in their viewing or gaming. Addiction to devices and technology is a very real thing. According to a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health, only about 29 percent of students get the recommended eight hours of sleep each night. Please help your child by ensuring they have enough sleep each night. Recommendations suggest:-

3-6 Years Old: 10 - 12 hours per day

7-12 Years Old: 10 - 11 hours per day

12-18 Years Old: 8 - 9 hours per day

I know getting children to bed can often be a challenge but to optimise their learning and ability to manage day to day occurences it is well worth it. The added benefit for parents is the quiet time this brings at the end of the day!

Lost Property!

Oh my goodness! If your child is missing any items of clothing please come into the office and have a look in the lost property tubs or better yet send them in to have a look for lost uniform items. There is two tubs filled with lost items.

Before and After School Care.

Our provider is 'Extend' and our service coordinator is Nicolene Cottrell. Nicolene runs an excellent program for the children who use the out of school care service. Parents are able to book children in on a regular basis or casually from time to time. Please give 'Extend' a call if you are interested in using the out of school care service.

Children's safety/Late arrivals.

When children arrive at school after the first bell they need to come through the front office to collect a red late pass. This is to give to their teacher who knows that they have been marked off the attendance register. By 9:30 each morning we send a text message to parents if children are not at school. Teachers complete their rolls first thing in the morning and then start their teaching for the day. We are finding that children who are late are coming in without going through the office and therefore are registered as absent. Consequently parents have become alarmed when they receive the text message. If your child arrives after the bell they are late. From next week we will be locking the front school gate at the first bell. Hopefully this will help. It can be very difficult for children to walk into class when learning has started, they feel self conscious and also miss important instruction and learning. Please help them with this and have them at school before the first bell. Being on time is a great life skill and it is never too early to start. Many thanks!

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