Dear Families,

Hoorah! 2020 is almost done and I am sure you will agree that we are looking forward to welcoming 2021. I am cautious in writing this though, as I recall writing at this time last year that 2020 had a great sound to it and was quite excited about the year ahead. I guess the moral of that story is that we need to make the most of the present moment and not take anything for granted.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas break with your families and friends. Adam and I will head off for 3 days prior to Christmas - it's a tradition we started after we got married 8 years ago. We go bush in our kombi and just blob before the Christmas rush with our respective families. This time, we are heading to an alpaca farm near Mirboo North.

Many of you know about my mum's ill health. She will be 80 in early January which is quite remarkable. Dad will be 87 not long after. Family time becomes special when moments are precious and you know they won't be for much longer. Next year, dad's family celebrates 70 years since arriving in Australia from County Kilkenny, Ireland, on the ten-pound passage. I am the family historian so will spend the break planning and collating family memories and stories.

Do you have any projects planned?

I would like to thank everyone who has been part of our learning community in 2020. More than ever, working together was vital for achieving success and progress. Heartfelt thanks to you all.

Have a wonderful Christmas and see you in the New Year.... a great new year.

Cheers,

Mary x

This is from Alexandra Big Life Journal:

What to do if your child is feeling sad or disappointed this time of the year?

For many, the holidays look very different this year. In my family, we are not traveling to see our grandparents and my oldest son is pretty sad about it.

If you see your children are feeling stressed, disappointed, sad, or lonely, the most important thing you can do is to make space for their feelings.

In fact, for our children to grow emotionally healthy, they need to know two things:

1. ALL their feelings are valid and accepted. It’s okay to be not okay.

2. Feelings come and feelings go, they are temporary.

So when my son feels extra sad or even angry when things don't go as he wants to, I say:

“It's okay to feel this way. We all get sad sometimes and it passes. You can think of your strong feelings as thunderstorms and sad feelings as clouds. Thunderstorms can be loud and scary but they pass. Once thunderstorms and clouds pass, the sun comes out again, and you feel better.”

This visual works pretty well for my son and he understands that it's okay to feel sad and the sadness will pass.

Remember that when children are expressing a feeling, it’s not a behavior that we need to control or fix (of course, we do need to stop them if anyone is being unsafe).

The way to encourage emotional awareness and self-regulation is to hold space for all kinds of feelings.

Some exciting things since the last newsletter:

School Leaders

Our leadership assembly was very special last week. It has been a joy working with our school captains this year, often through emails and zooms. They took up the challenge and continued to show their leadership skills and growth.

Welcome to our 2021 school leaders. I am sure you will be hearing more about our future leaders soon.

Our Shared Story

Great news from the "Our Shared Story" project. Four of our students have been selected to have their work permanently archived in the State Library of Victoria. This is awesome and means that in 100, 200, or more years, their work will still be available to be read.

Congratulations to these students:

Georgia – Letter to Self

Hamish – Letter to Self

Allanah – Likes and Dislikes

Niamh – What Matters to Me

Students vs Teachers

Ms Minton has been organising some fun activities. Here are some snaps of the teachers vs students netball match. There was no mercy shown and the sheep station was apparently won by.........?

Flat Traveller Project.

Some of our Flat Travellers have returned from their overseas Inquiry Projects. Part of the Grade 1-2 inquiry project included finding out about Christmas in other places. You can find out more on the blog:

https://rhpsflattraveller.blogspot.com/

Performing Arts News