Assistant Principal
Patrick Halpin
Assistant Principal
And just like that, Semester 1 is over! We have been super busy, as usual, at Kingswood and I am proud of all the achievements and progress. I've had a lovely week of marking the indigenous cultures of Australia, attending expos and presentations of learning journeys and raising money through Pink Ribbon Day.
Indigenous Week
Congratulations to the Special Celebrations Working Party who ran lots of events this week in acknowledgement of our indigenous cultures. The dedication and commitment of the team is outstanding they do such a great job every time. This week they organised:
- The Djirri Djirri Dance Group to visit Kingswood and present to the students in Years 3 and 4. The teachers were super impressed with how engaged the students were in the presentation; the students loved learning a few dances and the group congratulated Kingswood on the level of knowledge and awareness of indigenous cultures that exists within our school community.
- Boomerang decoration at lunchtime on Tuesday. All of the students were invited to join us and demonstrated their creativity and imagination, as well as their knowledge of the Aboriginal flag and the use of symbols and key colours.
- Reading to the students at lunchtime in the library. We read ‘The Outback’ by Annaliese Porter and Bronwyn Bancroft.
- Reading to the whole school community by our library technician, Lucie Hill, at assembly on Friday.
If anybody is interested in joining the working party, please let me know. We welcome your participation at any level – ideas, attendance at planning meetings, promoting events, support in running events, etc.
PIVOT Surveys
All of the students have been completing the second round of PIVOT surveys over the past two weeks. This will provide the teachers with feedback on how they are progressing towards their goal that was set at the beginning of the year. At the beginning of Term 3, every teacher will examine the data with their class and ensure that the agreed strategies are effective and tweak those that are not.
This work is in line with our School Strategic Plan and our Annual Implementation Plan – both documents can be found on our website.
Upcoming dates for parents
In Term 3, we have two special information sessions for parents:
- On Thursday, 18th July, the CASEA team will present on the Zones of Regulation. This will be a whole school approach from next term aimed at emotional regulation. It is evidence-based and used widely across the state. The team will present from 2:30 until 3:30pm. Please note that this event will not be live streamed. I know this time will not work for every family but it is being run by an external organisation who are offering this supportive service to the school for a full year at no cost. Please click here to register.
- Classroom Helper Training will be offered again at 7:15pm on Tuesday, 23rd July and at 9:15am on Wednesday, July 24th. The registration form will be sent out via Compass next term but please pop those dates in your diary if your training has, or is about to, expire(d).
- At 6:30pm on Thursday August 22nd, the Life Skills Group will return to run the second of three information sessions. Thank you to everybody who provided feedback and voted for the next topic, which will be ‘Raising a Leader’. Marisa will also revisit some of the mindfulness activities she mentioned at the last session so please join us. Remember that while we can LiveStream this session, we do not have permission to save or share the video.
Writing Competition
If you could choose any one secret power, which one would it be? Would you choose super strength? The ability to fly? The power to read minds?
Imagine you had super powers for one week. What would you do with them? How did they appear in the first place? Do you have a special superhero name?
Everybody is invited to write a story about all the good things about your power and the problems it might cause during that week. Do you need ideas and inspiration?
Here is a great random superpower generator to help you along the way! This is suitable for students in Year’s 4 to 6.
https://springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/superpowers.htm
Ask your teacher or mum and dad for their help to use this one if you are in Prep to Year 3:
https://www.kidpub.com/story/its-bird-its-plane-its-superhero-generator-78597199
Please submit your writing entries to your classroom teacher with your name and year clearly written. You may hand write or type your story but it must not be any longer than two A4 pages.
The best piece of writing from every class will be judged by a panel of staff and prizes will be awarded to the most entertaining Prep, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 piece of writing.
The winning piece of writing from each year level will also be showcased at the Kingston Prep to Year 12 Network Writing Festival on Thursday, August 22nd where the winners and their parents will be invited to attend.
Entries close on: Monday August 5th
The winners will be announced on Compass on Monday, August 12th.
Are You A Parent of a Child Aged 2 to 12?
The Parenting and Family Support Centre at the University of Queensland is conducting research into parents’ opinions about parenting and parenting programs. If you have a child between 2 and 12 years, we would love to hear your views on parenting and the services that are available to you as a parent. You will need to complete a short survey. To find out more or to participate please visit
https://exp.psy.uq.edu.au/parenting
Holiday Reading
I have conversations with parents all of the time in relation to their children’s anxiety levels and ability to cope with challenging situations. In my research, I came across this visual that I think might be helpful for parents when teaching their children how to deal with mistakes – mistakes are a part of life and, if we never get into trouble, we never learn how to cope, problem solve, strategise and move forward. Each time we make a mistake, we learn and move forward – it’s not the end of the world. We want our students to come to this realisation earlier so they can practise and build their independence.
If you would like to read more about this topic, you will find a nice article on