Principal's Message

From the Principal

Thank you to all the families that supported Grandparents’ Day last Friday. It was great to see so many people spend some time with their grandchildren in prayer and in the classrooms. There is something special about this day. English metaphysical poet John Donne put it beautifully, "No spring, nor summer hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face". Many thanks to Sally Clarke and Amy Willis for their organisation and preparation of the day.

Thank you to all the parents and grandparents who attended Family Mass last Sunday. It was a lovely Mass and a wonderful way to conclude Marriage and Family Week. Thank you to Father Paul for celebrating Mass and making it special.

Over the next two terms our teachers will have the opportunity to swap places with teachers from St Nicholas' Primary School for a day. This is to allow teachers to: have a look at different resources, partake in professional dialogue and professional development and to see first hand how different school environments work. I am certain that this initiative will be of tremendous benefit to the teachers and the schools.

Thank you to the parents who attended the Parent Association meeting on Tuesday night. It would be great to see a few more people join this enthusiastic group who work so hard for the school. They meet in Week 2 and Week 6 of each Term at 6.30pm at the Primary Campus.

One of the words that you hear often in today’s society, and particularly in education, is the term resilience. Professor Michael Bernard argues that “resilience in children is now probably more important than literacy or numeracy”. He defines resilience as, ‘a moderate emotional response to difficult circumstances, plus the ability to calm down in a reasonable time after a very upsetting situation and thirdly it’s the ability to bounce back to work or play’. He goes on to say that adults can explicitly teach, model and reinforce different resilience skills for children. That is, adults can communicate that when they are faced with a difficult situation and find themselves getting emotionally worked up, they can stay calm or calm down by doing a number of things, such as finding someone to talk with, relaxing by taking a few slow deep breaths, and not blowing the upset out of proportion. This is a challenge for all of us, but one that will ultimately benefit our children enormously.