Year 8 Pastoral Guardian

The Power of Routines for Supporting Wellbeing

It has been wonderful to welcome your child/children into Year 8 for 2022. Roving amongst them during breaks, chatting about their holidays, activities, and plans for the year, their excited chatter and laughter is a strong reminder of the need for connection and how being together sustains and nourishes the human spirt. We especially welcome our four new students and their families. Overall, there is a real joy and sense of hope for returning to school.

The return, however, also signifies change and the need for establishing positive and productive routines to facilitate wellbeing. Through many discussions with students over the past week, the resounding message from them is their need for routines as they navigate the change and uncertainty that lies before them on a societal and personal level.

There is a significant amount of research promoting the need for students to establish and follow routines to facilitate success in all areas of life. According to The Learning Centre, routines allow behaviours to become automatic because “the behavioural patterns we repeat most often are literally etched into our neural pathways”. This means energy can be purposefully channelled into accomplishing the steps required to achieve goals far more efficiently. Furthermore, routines increase autonomy, increase self-control, self-confidence and balance, minimise stress, promote safety and responsibility – attributes we want all our young people to develop. In essence, good routines promote independence and success!  

As parents, how can you help? This week in Personal Development, all Year 8 students are establishing two academic goals and one well-being goal. Additionally, they are completing a series of planners including mapping out their assessment in their Student Planner and completing a weekly planner helping them to establish routines for achieving their goals. Across the week, there needs to be evidence of time for schoolwork (6-8 hours in Francis School), time for activities and relaxation, and family time. Please take the time to view and discuss these planners by asking your child how you can best support them in achieving their goals. Making these goals and plans public increases motivation and accountability.

Finally, thank you for your work in supporting your child in returning to school. A gentle reminder about the wearing of uniforms, especially around earrings. Page 24 of the Student Planner advises student with pierced ears may wear one pair of small, simple studs or sleepers in each lower ear lobe.

I am looking forward to working with you and your Year 8 child/children this year.

Source: The Learning Center. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Changing Habits. Changing Habits – Learning Center (unc.edu)