Dear Families,

I don't know if your children shared this activity with you, but I know both teachers and children have enjoyed and spent a great deal of time trying to guess who is who in the staff baby photos. Barb Cumming our Year 3-4 teacher put this together and I know it bought a smile to many faces. The photos have been loaded below at the end of my page. Don't forget to scroll across to see them all. Can you guess who is who? Some are easy, others I did not have a clue! We will post who is who next week.

Yesterday all the children had the opportunity to take part in a whole school Lego activity via Zoom (pictured above). What a great response and how wonderful to watch the children totally engaged with their Lego building. Building with Lego or other similar tools is a great way to develop creativity and problem solving. The children were so proud of what they did. Thank you to Mrs Egonidis who facilitated the session with the children.

Don't forget to visit our other pages of the newsletter, you will be really glad you did!!

I am going to share with you a piece of writing I came across yesterday, these are not my words but they sum up everything that is happening at the moment at school and most importantly for you at home.

A Message to Parents

During school closures, if you're having difficulty and feeling stressed about the added pressure of now being teacher to your child/children, please remember:

You don't need to replicate the school experience.

Don't try and be your child's classroom teacher.

Just keep being the teacher you ALREADY are.

We trained for years to teach the way we do,

just as you trained for years to teach the way you do!

We couldn't take over your job overnight, you won't be able to take over ours.

Read with your child.

Cook with your child.

Garden with your child.

Enjoy nature with your child.

Make and create things with your child.

Sing and dance with your child.

PLAY with your child.

And above all, keep being the kind, calm role model your child needs during this challenging time.

This is how you teach, this is your superpower.

Keep doing you!

Your child is learning from you every single day!

There is one line I don't quite agree with:-

'We couldn't take over your job overnight, you won't be able to take over ours'.

I agree, we most definitely could not take over your job as mums and dads, but as parents you are doing a fabulous job supporting your children with their remote learning and teaching them along the way. We could not do what we are doing if it wasn't for your support at home. Learning remotely is not how children learn in classrooms, but we now have the capacity to support children to continue learning remotely during these times. This has evolved and changed over the last 12 months.

And to the most important people, the Children! Keep up the outstanding work you are doing! We are all very impressed!

At our School Advisory Council meeting on Tuesday evening (remote), I shared a prayer for peace that I have added below. When reading this prayer the people of Afghanistan were at the forefront of my thoughts. Such a devastating situation and such uncertain times ahead for so many people and their families. We can never underestimate the power of prayer!

Take care

Therese

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Lego session

Lego Session: Design and create your dream bedroom